


Konoha's Shinigami

by Lady_Grim



Category: Naruto
Genre: Acknowledged Naruto, Emotionally Cold Naruto, Gen, Hijutsu!Naruto, Scythe-wielding Naruro, Smart Uzumaki Naruto, Strong Uzumaki Naruto, original jutsu
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-17
Updated: 2019-02-18
Packaged: 2019-10-11 19:49:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 22,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17453195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Grim/pseuds/Lady_Grim
Summary: AU/AR.When Naruto was practicing the clone jutsu on an open training ground while Konoha was hosting the chunin exams, a Suna genin informed an eight-year-old Naruto of the fact that he was using way too much chakra after seeing the disastrous clones. As a result, Naruto asked the Sandaime for chakra control exercises. Graduating early at the age of 8 1/2, Naruto is sorted into a different team and his entire career turns out different.Four years later, a scythe-wielding, deadly Hijutsu using, chakra control obsessed and emotionally closed off Naruto is allocated to the newly created team 7 under Hatake Kakashi with Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura.Naruto couldn't be more annoyed.ORIn which Naruto takes the pretty basic principle of chakra control and turns it into a deadly Hijutsu, is denied his request to be an ANBU, and forced into a team with two brats, resulting in a Naruto who couldn't be more pissed off. He makes sure everyone knows it. Kakashi is running damage control, Sasuke is an advocate for teamwork, and Sakura is trying. Naruto is not impressed.





	1. Confrontation in the forest

“Duck!”

Iruka just managed to avoid the projectile aimed at his chest, thanks to Genma’s shout. The Katon (Fire) jutsu flew over his head and fizzled out after setting the tree behind him on fire. His opponent, not about to let him recover, charged at him with his sword raised, poised to sever his head from his shoulders, when he fell over with a sword piercing his heart.

“Where’s the backup?” This question, asked between two coughs, came from Hayate, who was sliding his sword out from between the ribs of the shinobi who just tried killing Iruka.

“Not a clue,” replied Aoba, in between dodging a suiton jutsu.

Mizuki’s murmured “Fuck!” summed up what Iruka thought pretty nicely.

These five – Aoba, Genma, Hayate, Mizuki, and Iruka – were currently accompanying a group of academy students on a field trip. They weren’t far from Konoha – maybe one hour by shinobi speed – and were very well guarded, with three tokubetsu jonin and two chunin.

In fact, normally this annual trip was done solely by the two instructors of a class. However, considering that this class was full of clan heirs – six heirs and the second child of a clan head, to be precise – extra protection in the form of three tokubetsu jonin was organized.

Theoretically, any possible attempts of kidnapping or attacks form shinobi would be easily averted by this.

In practice, they were attacked by two ANBU teams.

They were holding up pretty well, all things considered. They had killed three of the eight opponents, and another two were injured. The problem was that the injured two had gone after the children, while the other three were holding them back easily.

All of that was made possible by the leader, who used a mix of Doton (Earth) and Raiton (Lightning) jutsus. It was a rare combo, and the masked ANBU was wielding it with deadly efficiency.

Genma, Hayate, and Raidou were stalling him, trying to find an opportunity to kill him, while Iruka and Mizuki were facing their own foes. Before Hayate had killed the fourth opponent, Iruka and Mizuki were forced into a three against two, which almost cost Iruka his life.

The Konoha nin would probably win this fight, given enough time. Considering that two opponents had gone after the children, however, meant that time was the one thing they _didn’t_ have.

“Doton: Doryuudan!” (Earth Element: Earth Dragon Missile!)

A huge dragon head suddenly manifested in front of the Konoha shinobi and started spewing mud missiles. The shinobi did their best to dodge. At this range, however, with the dragon being merely ten meters away from Iruka and Hayate, fifteen from Mizuki, and at point blank for Aoba and Genma, they didn’t have much time to dodge.

Mizuki was the only one who got away unscathed and earned himself a kunai in the gut from his opponent. Iruka, who was still laying downed on the ground, managed to roll slightly to the side and only had his legs hit by the jutsu. Raidou got the full brunt of the jutsu on his chest, knocking all the air out of his lungs and almost causing him to fall unconscious, while Genma’s right arm was now useless. Hayate had managed to defend himself with his sword. As a consequence, however, said sword broke, leaving him without his main weapon.

All in all, the Konoha ninja were defenseless. They knew it, and their opponents knew it too. It came as no surprise, therefore, when the leader started forming hand seals for a Raiton technique, while the other ANBU were approaching Iruka and Hayate to decapitate them. 

What came as a surprise, however, were the two thuds that suddenly sounded through the clearing, and the shinobi that appeared in their midst.

The ANBU immediately fell into defensive positions, while the Konoha shinobi sighed in relief once they spotted the leaf hitai-ate on his arm. Only to tense up again when they got a better look at him. It wasn’t a jonin, like they were expecting, but rather, a child only ten years old.

Sun-kissed hair, ocean blue eyes, and three tell-tale whisker marks on each cheek – there was no doubt about who this was in their minds. It was Uzumaki Naruto, Konoha’s resident prankster – at least, that’s who he was until five months ago. Now…

“Heh, here I was, taking a stroll through the forest – and suddenly I see two ANBU aiming their weapons at children.” Suddenly, the light-hearted voice the blonde used turned into a serious voice edged with a warning. “Now I see three foreign ANBUs about to kill five Konoha shinobi… Would anybody mind explaining what’s happening?”

Instead of receiving an answer, however, the ANBU that gutted Mizuki charged at Naruto with a katana. Instead of cowering with fear, or freezing with the killing intent flooding the area, a grin spread on Naruto’s face.

“I see… You want to have a go, huh?”

With that, he extended his left arm to the side. Ink started to flow from underneath Naruto’s sleeve, running down his outstretched hand, until it dripped down his middle finger and dropped towards the ground. Seemingly from nothing a scythe formed underneath his left hand, which Naruto quickly caught before gravity pulled it to the ground. The whole process didn’t take longer than a second and was impressive to watch.

Suddenly Naruto began twirling the scythe in his left hand, bringing it in front of his torso before switching it to his right.

“Hijutsu: Saisho no aji.”  (Hijutsu: First Taste.)

To the onlookers, nothing changed. To Naruto, a different world came into existence before his eyes. The chakra network of his prey – _jonin, average chakra control, water affinity_ – became visible to him, and the surrounding hundred meters were scanned for hostile chakra sources. _Two apart from my prey. No further chakra signatures apart from the children and the shinobi in this clearing._

Naruto straightened himself with a smirk, before bringing down his scythe in a seemingly sloppy draw. The beheaded body slumped on the ground before him spoke a different story, however.

“Well, that’s one down. Who’s next?” The wide grin on Naruto’s face, combined with the bloody scythe in his hand and the body by his feet, gave an eerie feeling to the enemy shinobi.

The leader of the ANBU quickly formed hand seals.  “Doton: Doryuudan!” (Earth Element: Earth Dragon Missile!) Immediately after the dragon head started firing the missiles, he flew through another sequence. “Raiton: Raienyuu!” (Lightning Element: Lightning Dragon!)

The lightning dragon combined with the earth missiles and created a widespread attack that was close to impossible to escape from.

“Tch.” Naruto raised his scythe to defend himself and coated it in wind chakra, creating a barrier between the jutsu, his allies and himself. Once the jutsu died down, Naruto threw his scythe into the air, much to the confusion of everybody in the clearing.

“Enough fooling around. Let’s get serious.”

“Are you surrendering, boy? It doesn’t matter, I’ll kill you regardless,” uttered the leader.

“Who said anything about giving up?” A smirk coated Naruto’s mouth. “Hijutsu: Chimamire no Sekai.” (Hijutsu: Bloodied World.)

This time, the effect was easily visible to the spectators. Weapons of all kinds – senbon, shuriken, and kunai – rose from Naruto’s weapon pouches, launching themselves into the air, and remaining there.

“I hope you have already written your testament, ANBU-chan.”

The shinobi in the clearing stared half in awe, half in horror, as the weapons hovering over their heads were coated in wind chakra. Then, at speeds almost invisible to anyone below A-Rank, the weapons rained down on the opponents.

Without a chance to even cry out in pain, the two remaining opponents died. Every single vital spot was hit, every artery cut at least once, the heads severed, and the brain pierced. It was a gruesome sight, and the Konoha Shinobi understood where the jutsu got its name.

“Well, that’s eight scumbags less in this world. Good job you five.” With that Naruto extended his left arm again, and the scythe flew back towards it, disappearing into thin air upon touching his palm. The various thrown weapons were raised back into the air, and sorted themselves into their respective pouches. Thanks to the wind chakra coating them, no blood or gore had stuck to them.

It was kind of surreal to watch, even for ninja, who walked on water every day.

When Naruto turned to leave, Genma quickly called out to him. “Wait! Take us back to Konoha.”

“Are you incapable of walking or what? Some shinobi you are,” he ridiculed, but never the less obliged and formed five Mizu Bunshin (Water Clones), one for each fallen ninja.

As he picked them up, a smirk remained on his face, but it quickly changed into a frown when he got a glance at their injuries. Immediately his entire behavior changed.

“Shit. Alright, Scar, Gut, and Senbon need to be taken to the hospital immediately. My clones will head over there at top speed, so try to hang on. I’ll bring the other two to the Hokage to report, and use a few clones henged into you to get the children back. Sounds like a plan?”

“Yeah. We have names though. I’m Genma, and the other ones are Raidou, Mizuki, Iruka, and Hayate.” Genma pointed at each person with his working arm before slumping against one of Naruto’s clones.

Naruto rolled his eyes. “Whatever, let’s go. _Mizuki, Raidou_ and _Genma_ will need a visit to the hospital, while _Iruka_ and _Hayate_ will report back to the Hokage.” Naruto frowned when he heard Hayate cough. “Do you need a hospital too?”

“No, I’m fine. This is a chronic illness; I am already used to it.” Naruto just nodded once in response, before starting to run towards Konoha with his clones carrying the shinobi. Along the way, he created five more clones, who performed a henge and left to take care of the kids.

* * *

 

Two hours later found Naruto standing in his favorite clearing in Konoha’s vast forest, effortlessly slipping in and out of his katas at a fast pace, when a bird began circling over his head and cried out once.

Naruto looked up at it and suppressed a sigh. _Seems like Jiji is calling for me. Damn, and I am in the middle of training, too._ Letting the tension roll out of his muscles, he dispersed his trusted scythe, Shinrai, before heading out of the forest and into the heart of Konoha.

One glance at the sheer amount of people on the streets and Naruto took to the roofs. Ten minutes later he slipped into the Hokage’s office through the window, quickly flashing his chakra so that the ANBU on duty wouldn’t try to stop him.

“Hokage-sama,” he said in way of greeting as he landed before the aged man.

“Naruto,” the man acknowledged with a warm grin. “I see you got the summon.”

“Yeah. Did you have to pull me out in the middle of training though, old man?”

Hiruzen smiled at that. Ever since Naruto was placed on genin team fourteen, and thus officially became a shinobi serving under him, he may have stopped calling Hiruzen by the nickname he christened him with when he was young (at least in public), but Naruto still didn’t see the point – or need – for formality and pretty words between them. In all honesty, Hiruzen preferred it this way.

“I’m sorry, but this couldn’t wait. I heard about the incident in the forest.”

“It wasn’t anything too difficult. The shinobi going for the children were injured, the shinobi that charged at me stupid, and the leader worn out. They were practically ripe for the taking, especially with my jutsu.”

Hiruzen just grunted in response. In all honesty, Naruto’s skills were terrifying. Not because it was a particularly complex jutsu, or a certain death technique, or because it required a living sacrifice or was forbidden or something like that. No, Naruto’s technique – christened as ‘ _Shinigami’s Hijutsu_ ’ by the person in question – was terrifying because he took one simple, basic skill, and turned it into a deadly weapon.

“Anyway, this by far isn’t the first time that I killed, I’ve been using these techniques for more than two years now, I wasn’t injured and it wasn’t a particularly violent kill. Why did you want to see me?”

“Naruto, I’ve decided that you’ll be placed in a genin team.” Seeing Naruto open his mouth, Hiruzen quickly raised his hand to interrupt the words Naruto was about to say, and continued speaking.

“You will be placed on one of the genin teams graduating next year. Considering that they were just attacked on a field trip, I have reason to assume that they will be targeted once they are genin and begin running their first C-Ranks.”

“But what about my ANBU application?!” Naruto was currently gritting his teeth, hoping beyond hope that the aged Hokage wasn’t about to utter the dreaded words.

“The children have priority.” This sentence was uttered with a tone of finality, but Naruto wasn’t about to take this laying down. Neither of the two noticed that they were calling Naruto’s peers – at least in age, if not in rank or skill – children, while not referring to Naruto as such.

Naruto’s eyes blazed in fury. “You know what that means to me! I’ve been working towards this for _years_! _How dare you_?!”

“I’m sorry, Naruto, but my decision is final. You will be taking the genin exams with them, and hopefully finally get promoted to chunin. On the bright side, you will be paid for an ongoing A-Rank mission for this assignment.” The Hokage’s voice was calm, without any trace of emotions in it, and if anything that made things worse.

“I DON’T WANT YOUR FUCKING MONEY!”

Everyone in the room, the ANBU included, winced at this statement. It was no secret among the higher ranked ninjas – i.e., chunin and up – that Naruto’s goal was to become an ANBU, and that he already had the necessary skills for it after training hard for years. However, it was also widely known that he would never be accepted as one until he was at least sixteen – the memory of Itachi a constant, bloody reminder of what happens with young minds in the Black Ops.

“Be that as it may,” Hiruzen started again in a calm voice, “I will not negotiate this. Your orders stand, Naruto – you will be placed on a genin team next year, and you will remain there until you pass the chunin exam. Until then, you may take on C-Ranked missions solo, and be partnered up with other chunin and jonin for B- and A-Ranks. Report in the mission office if you want to take a mission.”

Sarutobi expected Naruto to get up in his face about this, to start another screaming match, heck, maybe even having to dodge a few jutsu and weapons. He had even prepared an incentive to get Naruto to agree should he start trying to negotiate – he had authorized that Naruto may learn the Shadow Clone Jutsu. It was a jutsu Naruto had been badgering him about for _months_ , ever since learning that this technique existed and having learned every other clone technique Konoha had.

What he didn’t expect was the fury in Naruto’s eyes to blaze up before being smothered in cold ice, his jaw clenching before relaxing, and a perfect poker face to mask Naruto’s emotions.

Naruto nodded, bowed to the wizened man, and turned sharply on his heels. A single, “Yes, Hokage-sama,” was tossed over his shoulder before he slammed the door shut behind him, his voice cold and emotionless. The Hokage sighed and looked sadly at the door.

“Did I make a mistake?” The question echoed through the room, only answered by silence. He closed his eyes, took a moment to collect himself, and focused on his paperwork.

* * *

 


	2. Team Assignments

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team Seven meets for the first time.

** Chapter 2 – Team Assignments **

Naruto glared at the class of genin-hopefuls as he watched them through the window. He himself was hidden in a tree, situated a few meters away from it. Naturally, nobody in the classroom noticed him – he was masking his chakra and using a seal to erase his presence – but their behavior was quite unsatisfying.

Screaming fangirls, joking civilians – genin, he reminded himself – and an overall loud volume. The clan children were only minuscule better – the Nara was sleeping, the Akimichi eating, the Yamanaka a fangirl, the Inuzuka loudly boasting. The Hyuga, Aburame and Uchiha were silent, but for the Hyuga it was out of shyness and the Uchiha’s thoughts were elsewhere. Honestly, the only one he approved of was the Aburame.

Quite frankly, it was embarrassing for shinobi.

He had researched all possible team members in detail – meaning all the clan children and the top five kunoichi – and the only one he wouldn’t mind being teamed up with was the Aburame. Everybody else would get killed too easily, either due to neglecting training, having delusions of grandeur, or by being distracted.

When the teacher, Umino Iruka, finally entered the room, the class settled down after he shouted at them. Naruto absentmindedly listened to him, while trying to improve his mastery over wind. He was currently infusing his chakra into the air, and creating small gusts of wind.

It was an exercise the very man he was listening to recommended. Originally this was a technique belonging to Doton (Earth) users, with the difference that they created cracks in the ground. Iruka had asked if he couldn’t do the same with wind – furthering his mastery over it.

These gusts were so weak, that even a shinobi would be hard-pressed to notice them. Thanks to his chakra that they were enhanced with, Naruto would be able to accurately sense every object and every source of chakra in its path – and he was capable of controlling it.

That part – at least for Naruto – was easier than it sounded. After all, he had done it countless times already. The hard part was sharpening these small gusts into razor sharp, almost invisible blades, when they were twenty meters away from him. After all, the difficulty with wind was the control over the element.

Ninety-eight tries later, sixty-two of which were successful, Iruka finally announced the teams. Listening closely, Naruto immediately discarded knowledge of the first six teams – they would never pass their jonin’s test – and perked up when Iruka announced team 7 – a historically important team.

“Team Seven: Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, and Uzumaki Naruto. Your jonin-sensei is Hatake Kakashi. Team Eight: Aburame Shino, Hyuga Hinata, and Inuzuka Kiba, under jonin-sensei Yuhi Kurenai. Team Nine is still in rotation. Team Ten: Akimichi Choji, Nara Shikamaru, and Yamanaka Ino. The sensei is Sarutobi Asuma.”

Naruto scowled. He immediately blocked out the sounds coming from the class room – shouting, cheering, crying, boasting – and redirected his attention to his surroundings. This was actually a focusing exercise taught to all chunin before their first B-Rank – if you are the leader of your team, you need to be able to have a clear mind and be aware of your surroundings at any moment, while being able to block out unnecessary noise (like the civilians you were protecting) – and Naruto was taught it before his first solo C-Rank by Shiranui Genma, as a thank-you for saving them that time in the forest.

_The teams make no sense. It is tradition that the best shinobi and kunoichi of the year are placed with the student with the lowest scores, to even the teams out. According to my research, the rookie is Uchiha and the kunoichi Haruno, with Nara and Inuzuka tied for the position of dead-last._

_I can understand that the Ino-Shika-Cho combo was reinstated, it worked well in the last generation, but why the Inuzuka-Aburame-Hyuga combo? A tracking team? But Konoha normally ensures that there isn’t any over-specialization in teams – it increases the likelihood of meeting an enemy capable to take all three on._

_Wait, wasn’t there another team like that last year? If I remember correctly, Maito Gai had a pure Taijutsu team… Is the Hokage trying to create a better quality for the chunin ranks by entering already specialized genin?_

_Or maybe… It’s because of the clan children? The Ino-Shika-Cho is obvious, and the Hyuga would want their heiress to be placed with ‘capable’ teammates. What better option than taking clan children? Considering that they work out perfectly as a tracking team, all the better._

_Which leaves… the Uchiha. The last of an important bloodline, thus not allowed to die easily. Rookie of the year, together with the Kunoichi of the year… the civilians would cause a fuss if they were to die. Thus a sensei perfectly equipped for teaching the Uchiha – the last of Konoha’s sharingan bearers, Copycat Kakashi – who is simultaneously one of Konoha’s highest ranking jonin, and a genin with experience and strength beyond his rank – me._

Naruto scowled. _Great, this means that the Hokage screwed me over due to politics. That talentless brat and useless fangirl are supposed to be my teammates? Just great. At least Hatake is my sensei – he seemed quite alright during our missions together, and he’ll at least be an excellent sparring partner._

Then his scowl deepened as he remembered Hatake’s particular habits. _Guess I’ll come back in two hours._ As he left for ‘his’ training ground, the last thing he heard was Sakura asking who ‘Uzumaki Naruto’ was.

* * *

One and a half hours later, Naruto was testing out his new jutsu, Kage Bunshin (Shadow Clones). He had received the scroll for it one month ago, in an effort by the Hokage to smooth out their relationship once again.

However, between his anger, pride, and the influx of missions – Naruto took a B- or A-Rank once a week, or three C-Ranks if there weren’t any suitable ones – that Naruto took in preparation for his stint as a genin – _bills don’t pay themselves, you know?_ – he found no time to read the letter.

A week ago, Naruto finally read it. It was an apology from the Hokage – but at the same time he was once again trying to explain himself. If anything, it made Naruto even angrier. At the bottom, however, was a storage seal. After opening it, Naruto was surprised to see the jutsu scroll for the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Jutsu).

Years ago, before their feud, Naruto had constantly begged Hiruzen to be allowed to learn it – he wanted to know all the clone jutsu, and the Kage Bunshin seemed to be the most useful one – but was constantly blocked due to ‘the dangers involved with it’. To see the jutsu now was quite a surprise.

After four days of studying the theory behind it at night, Naruto finally got around to practicing the jutsu two days ago. This was the first time he was using it while training.

He had just completed a Taijutsu spar – ten clones vs himself, after all, the scroll warned about memory overload – when one particular seal on his right wrist flared up. It was usually invisible, but, if the conditions were met – like somebody breaking into his apartment – it would glow a bright blue.

He was just about to head over there – there were some things he didn’t want anybody to steal or even lay a hand on – when a second seal lit up. This seal, located on the downside of his wrist, analyzed the chakra signature of the intruder, sent a sample to Naruto, and recorded it. Thanks to this, Naruto easily recognized who was entering his apartment – it was Hatake. He had been on missions with him often enough to easily recognize his chakra.

 _Oh well,_ mused Naruto, _Hatake’s not going to touch anything he shouldn’t be or steal something. He’s probably trying to know me better – we never did speak much when we were on missions, and as a jonin-sensei, he is obligated to know his students, inside and out._

Once again relaxing, he fell into some basic katas, before heading over to the academy when he felt Hatake leave his apartment.

_Guess it’s time._

* * *

“Yo! Team Seven, follow me.”

Sakura stared after the silver-haired ninja as he left the room. Sasuke simply stood up, quickly following him, leaving Sakura behind.

“Sasuke-kun! Wait!” She quickly started chasing after them.

* * *

“Well then, it’s time for introductions. You on the right, start.”

“B-But sensei, our third member isn’t even here yet,” Sakura interjected.

“Hm? But he is.” Kakashi disinterestedly stared at the two children seated in front of him. Their reactions were quite interesting. Sakura bore a look of righteous indignation, while Sasuke’s face contorted into a scowl.

_Interesting. Seems like neither of them is good at spotting concealed enemies… And Naruto didn’t even put any effort in it._

“Where?!”

“Come on down, Naruto.”

With a soft, almost inaudible _thud_ , Naruto landed a few meters behind Kakashi. Gesturing with his hand, Kakashi instructed Naruto to sit down.

“Well then, let’s, once again, start with introductions.”

“Ehm, sensei, what are we supposed to say?” Kakashi suppressed a sigh, while both Naruto and Sasuke stopped themselves from rolling their eyes.

“Things you like, dislike, stuff like that. You, on the right, start.” He gestured at Sakura.

“But sensei, both Sasuke and I know each other already. One of you should start!”

“Fine. I am Hatake Kakashi, a jonin of Konoha. Things I like and things I hate… I don’t feel like telling you that. My dreams for the future… Never really thought about it. As for my hobbies… I have lots of hobbies. Naruto, continue.”

Naruto nodded before starting, using the same tone of voice Kakashi used. Sakura, who was just about to whisper to Sasuke that he didn’t tell them anything besides his name, quickly closed her mouth to listen to Naruto.

“My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I am a genin of Konoha, and have been for the last three and a half years. I never moved up in the ranks because I never participated in the Chunin Exams. I like honest and hard-working people, and enjoy refining my Hijutsu. I hate useless and arrogant shinobi who don’t put any effort in their training, and gossiping civilians. My dream for the future is… to move up in the ranks and become a great shinobi, I guess. I don’t really have any hobbies besides training and studying seals.”

Kakashi nodded, once, before gesturing to Sakura. “Your turn.”

“I’m Haruno Sakura. What I like… Eh, I mean, the person I like is… Eh… My hobby is… My dream for the future is…!” Her actions between her pauses gradually increased in intensity. At first, she blushed while sneaking a look at Sasuke, then she chuckled strangely – Kakashi guessed it was supposed to be ‘cute’ – and after the last sentence, she squealed and buried her face in her hands.

Kakashi and Naruto threw deadpan looks at her, while Sasuke just stared in the space before him stoically. He had way too much experience in dealing with this from the academy. Sadly, ignoring them never seemed to cure the problem.

“And? What do you hate?” This seemed to cure her fangirling moment, as she quickly raised her head.

“Ino-pig!”

 _Girls her age are more interested in boys than in ninja training,_ Kakashi internally mused.

“I’d like to make an addition to my earlier introduction.” Kakashi threw him a glance that urged him to continue. “I hate useless and arrogant shinobi who don’t take their training seriously and gossiping civilians, but kunoichi who are weak fangirls supersedes them both.

Kakashi hid a smile under his mask, and looked at Sasuke. “Alright, last one.”

“My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I hate a lot of things. And I don’t particularly like anything. What I have is not a dream, because I _will_ make it a reality. I’m going to restore my clan, and destroy a certain _someone_.”

For a moment, silence reigned on the roof.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. _Wow, I could almost hear menacing music in the background, what with the tone he used._

Sakura was staring at Sasuke longingly. _Sasuke is so hot._

 _Just as I thought._ Kakashi frowned a bit, which naturally went unnoticed under his mask.

“Good! You’re each unique and you have your own ideas. We’ll have our first mission tomorrow.”

“What kind of mission?” Naruto looked at Kakashi with interest clear in his eyes. _I thought that he’ll do the true Genin test, but maybe he chose to forgo it. All the better – a team is forged by surviving life-threatening situations together, not during training. It’s not like we’ll ever be a true team, anyway._

“It’s a task that the four of us will do together.”

_I see. So he didn’t decide to forgo it… Oh well. Maybe those two will fail, and I can return to my own training instead of wasting time with D-Ranks._

After a long, pregnant pause, Sakura was the one who finally asked. Sasuke didn’t want to make a fool out of himself, and Naruto already knew what this was about.

“What will we do, Kakashi-sensei?”

“A survival exercise.”

“But we already did these in the academy, Kakashi-sensei!” This was getting old really, really fast. Naruto felt compelled to throw a glare over at her, but managed to reign himself in at the last moment. He was _not_ going to sink to their level, thank you very much.

Kakashi smiled at her – or, at least Kakashi’s version of a smile, using his eyes. “Well, Sakura. I think you’ll find that this won’t be like the one you did in the academy. In fact –“ here Kakashi paused, and Naruto had to suppress an eye roll – “you can think of this as your true genin test. If you pass, I will accept you as my team. If not, you’ll all be going back to the academy.”

Sasuke scoffed, Sakura had gone wide-eyed, and Naruto couldn’t suppress his eye roll. _Seriously? Scaring genin, Hatake?_

“But we already passed out genin test! In the academy!”

“That may be so, but that test is only used to sort the truly talentless from those that Konoha should put her resources in to train. If you don’t pass the jonin’s test, then that means that you aren’t ready yet. Now then,” Kakashi clapped his hands, “Let me tell you about the failure rate. From the 27 new graduates, only around nine will actually be graduate. Last year, only one genin team was formed. That sets the failure rate at around 66 percent! The other seventeen will be sent to the academy for retraining.”

Kakashi looked at his genin to determine their reaction. Nothing beat seeing their confidence melt into panic. And, as expected, Sakura looked up at him with wide eyes full of fear, and while Sasuke seemed completely cool and apathetic on the surface, his chakra churning with emotion told Kakashi the true state of his mind. As expected, Naruto was the only exception. Regular pulse, calm and steady behavior…

What _came_ as a surprise, however, was that he couldn’t read Naruto’s chakra _at all_. Oh, he could tell it was there, and could tell its quantity and density (or, at least, make a rough guess – after all, while Naruto wasn’t masking it, he _did_ have a massive amount of chakra), but he couldn’t read its flow or the emotion within it.

It puzzled him, and, judging by the small smirk on his lips, Naruto knew. Kakashi raised an eyebrow, saw Naruto dip his head slightly in acknowledgement, and after three small hand signs hidden from the pre-genin’s eyes (talk, training ground, later) a meeting was decided.

“Meet me at the training ground 7 tomorrow at six am. If I were you, I wouldn’t eat breakfast – you’ll only puke it up. Dismissed!”

* * *

“What did you want to know, Hatake?”

“What, no Kakashi-sensei?” Kakashi moved his lips into a pout, even though he knew that Naruto wouldn’t be able to see it. He was glad that the mask hid his wince at Naruto’s hostile tone.

“You aren’t my sensei. You haven’t taught me anything, and you haven’t even passed team seven yet. Besides, the only person I will ever honor with that title is Ayaka-sensei.” Kakashi’s expression turned somber at the reminder of Naruto’s former sensei. However, he knew that any advice – no matter how well-intended – wouldn’t be accepted by Naruto. At least not yet. So he held his tongue, and schooled his face back to his default eye smile.

“Fine, I can understand that. But at least call me by my first name.”

“Why? It’s not like we’re friends.”

“No, we aren’t, though I would like to remedy that. But like it or not, we’re going to be teammates, Naruto. I think you are well aware that good relationships, a civil tone, and knowing each other is paramount.” Naruto clenched his jaw and looked away.

“If you continue to call me by my last name, it will cause a rift and unnecessary coolness and tension within the team. I don’t want to lose any team members due to that.” Kakashi knew it was a bit of a gamble – Naruto’s reaction wasn’t really easy to predict since the incident two years ago – as well as an exaggeration, but he was building on Naruto’s professionalism as a shinobi and his ability to read between the lines.

“Fine. But you won’t get any honorifics, Kakashi.” Kakashi smiled.

“I wasn’t expecting any.” Silence settled between the two of them, and before Kakashi could try to break it, Naruto did.

“Why were you in my apartment today?” Kakashi raised an impressed eyebrow. Naruto looked probingly back at him.

“Didn’t think you’d notice.”

“I’ve got my ways.” He already knew why Kakashi was there – or at least, had a good guess – and wanted to see how Kakashi would respond.  Kakashi hesitated a bit before he continued.

“Tell you what: you tell me how you know, and I tell you what I wanted.” Naruto scoffed.

“I know what you wanted. You wanted to learn more about your future charges.” Kakashi hummed.

“In that case, this is your way of telling me that you know that I was there, as well as a warning to not come by again?”

“No. I was informing you that if you were an enemy, you would be dead or at least injured by now, while simultaneously informing my team leader of my progress in the fairly obscure art of Fuinjutsu.”

Kakashi chuckled. “That’s good to know. Unfortunately, I only know the basics of the art – I cannot further your training or estimate how far along you are.”

“I know. But Ayaka-sensei always stressed the need to be open to your team members – and if you cannot or will not tell your whole team, to at least inform the team leader. Ayaka-sensei started me on weapon-related Fuinjutsu, as well as storage-related. I’m fairly advanced at those – have to be, for my scythe – and I have studied a bit about barrier Fuinjutsu under Higarashi-san. I’m still beginner level with them, though. The seals that noticed your entry were actually made by Kikura-san.”

_Maybe it won’t take that long to get him out of his shell – if he is already voluntarily sharing information about his abilities and security measures with me, he must at least have some faith in me as a leader._

“Thank you for sharing that, Naruto. It will be useful to have those as an option for the missions. Now that we already are on the topic of training, how do you want to continue with yours?” Naruto’s head shot up.

“You are willing to let me have a say in this?”

“What did you expect? Running basic drills and katas designed for new genin until your teammates are up to date?”

“Actually, yes. I was kind of expecting to have to do the tree-climbing exercise.” Kakashi laughed.

“Having the shinobi with the best chakra control in the entirety of Konoha do tree-climbing would kind of be a waste, wouldn’t it?” Naruto’s answering smile – not quite a grin, not yet – warmed his heart. “But I’m serious, Naruto. I want you to have the best training there is for you at this point, not sacrificing you for the progress of the other two.” Naruto nodded.

“Well, I can go through my katas and do my conditioning while they do theirs. The intensity will be different, but I don’t think that will be a problem. I’m currently working on improving my Hijutsu – I’d appreciate having a training partner to test it out on.”

“I can definitely help you with that. It has the added effect of allowing me to gauge your progress and staying in shape, too. You are roughly chunin level right now, correct?” Naruto shrugged.

“Should be. I bested Iruka during the majority of our spars. He said my speed is high chunin level, my strength mid chunin, stamina low to mid jonin and chakra control and capacity… well.” Kakashi chuckled. “Iruka _did_ mention that my jutsu repertoire is very limited, and that my Taijutsu is very dependent on my scythe. He also criticized that my entire fighting style is based on my scythe – should I lose it or if it breaks mid fight, I’d be screwed.” The _‘according to him, anyway’_ hung unsaid in the air.

Kakashi nodded – that would be a problem. “Alright, anything else?” Naruto shrugged before continuing.

“I’ve started sparring with Hayate and Genma, and have so far been unable to win any of our matches. Of course, the use of my Hijutsu is prohibited, otherwise it would turn out differently, but I guess a more exact estimation of my skills would be high chunin – enough to hold my own against anyone ranked chunin and below, but hard pressed against high-ranking jonin. At least in a direct confrontation. They said that my main problem is missing experience sparring with high-level opponents – my enemies go down too quickly, and apart from Iruka and those two I don’t have a sparring partner.”

Kakashi nodded. If Naruto had enough time to prepare, or was able to surprise his opponent, then it didn’t matter how strong one was – one would die before laying a hand on Naruto. In fact, your own chakra worked against you when fighting Naruto. The more you had, the easier you went down.

“Well then, one last thing: what did you do to your chakra?”

“What do you mean?”

“I cannot read it. I can see its density and everything, but not its speed or sentiments.”

“Oh. Probably a side effect of reaching a higher state of chakra control than I had before.” When Kakashi’s raised eyebrow didn’t prompt an explanation, he resorted to words.

“Are you going to specify that?”

“Nope. It’s preparation for a new technique of mine, I won’t tell you anything else.”

Kakashi hummed in response.

“Kakashi.”

“Hm?”

“The way you spoke earlier… Did you already decide to pass team 7?”

Kakashi paused for a bit. “The… Hokage made it very clear that he wants this team to pass. But only – _only_ – if they are ready. If I have any concerns, I can still send them back to the academy.”

“In other words, it’s already pretty much decided, since you look for teamwork.”

Kakashi didn’t reply for a while, and Naruto guessed that in itself was an answer to his question. He started turning away, intent on getting back to his training, when Kakashi put a hand on his shoulder. Naruto’s hand instantly shot towards his kunai holster on instinct, but he managed to regain his bearings before actually opened it.

Kakashi, who had naturally caught the movement, instantly removed his hand and took a step back. Holding his hands in front of him non-threateningly, he decided to use a light-hearted tone to calm Naruto down. 

“Maa, Naruto, you are a bit on edge, aren’t you?”

“It’s been a while since I’ve been touched outside of combat situations.” His entire body was still tense, and his chakra flow had accelerated, sure signs that his body was ready to jump into action any given moment. With some effort he managed to calm it down to its usual levels, and his body relaxed slightly in response. Naruto took away the rest of the tension by consciously relaxing each muscle, before he turned back to Kakashi.

“Why did you stop me?” He turned his probing gaze on Kakashi, trying to see beyond the surface, but Kakashi simply stared back seriously. Naruto couldn’t read any emotion from him.

“How will you act during the test, Naruto?” Naruto furrowed his eyebrows.

“What do you mean?”

“Will you sabotage the genin test, Naruto?” Kakashi’s voice was serious, with an underlying steely quality that was mirrored in his eyes. Naruto tensed, and his shoulders hunched.

“I…” He trailed off as a flood of memories resurfaced in the forefront of his mind.

* * *

~

 _“Alright, brats. From this moment onwards I have accepted you as team fourteen. That means – whether or not you like each other or can even stand the other’s presence – you will fight for each other. You will fight_ with _each other. No matter what happens, you will have the others back – be that during a mission, combat, a hospital stay, or even in Konoha itself. I don’t care if it’s just a civilian badmouthing a teammate. If I ever hear that one of you abandoned one of the others, you won’t like the consequences. I don’t expect you to get along swimmingly right away – teams are forged in combat situations, through saving each other’s skin again and again. But I_ do _expect you to put in effort. Any questions?”_

_~_

_“Mou, Naru-chan! You shouldn’t be constantly eating ramen. Especially not instant one! It doesn’t have many nutrients, and has way too much salt. Come on, my mother cooked fish – why don’t you join us today for dinner?” A smile spread on her kind face when Naruto nodded._

_~_

_“Yo, Naru-chan! I heard from Mayu that you still need some help getting the last boxes to your new flat. Where should I start?” Ryobi was leaning against the doorway, his typical cocky grin on his lips._

_~_

_“Ryobi! Stop calling me ‘Naru-chan’ already! I’m a guy, you know? It’s embarrassing, dattebayo!”_

_“Yeah, but you are the baby of the team. Therefore, you need a nickname!” Naruto squeaked when Ryobi’s hand ruffled his hair._

~

* * *

 

Those one and a half years on team fourteen were the happiest years in Naruto’s life. He had been accepted by someone, had finally felt at home – only to have it all ripped away so suddenly. He closed his eyes and sighed, barely preventing a pained sound from escaping his lips.

“I won’t sabotage the test. Don’t get me wrong, I won’t go out of my way to help them. I still want them to fail, so that I can go back to what I was doing before the Hokage got this stupid idea in his head. But if they figure the meaning of the test out themselves, and ask me for help, I will assist them. Until then, I’ll stay out of sight somewhere in the forest. If you attack me, I’ll retaliate of course.” Kakashi nodded.

“And on future missions? If I pass this team, will you be able to work with them?” Naruto threw an affronted glare at the jonin.

“Of course I will! The first thing Ayaka-sensei taught us was the importance of teamwork in the field, regardless of whether or not you like your company. I won’t risk their lives or yours over not cooperating during a mission.” Kakashi relaxed at that admission.

“But make no mistake, Kakashi. This is not my team. This will _never_ be my team. I’ll listen to orders, cooperate during training, and protect them on missions, but don’t expect me to make nice with them. During my down time I don’t want any interaction with them, and I won’t teach them anything.”

“Why not?”

“Because that’s your job, not mine.”

“No, I meant why don’t you want to have anything to do with them?”

“Look at them, Kakashi! I researched all of them, the entire class, in detail, and no one apart from Aburame Shino has the potential to become a good shinobi! Uchiha is a flight risk, too blinded by revenge to do anything else. Haruno is a freaking _fangirl_ to said Uchiha! They are both useless and weak-minded, and I have no time to waste on them,” exploded Naruto.

“It’s not nice to call your teammates useless and weak, Naruto,” reproached Kakashi.

“It’s the truth.” Kakashi sighed.

“They are _genin_ , Naruto. Freshly graduated academy students.”

“Doesn’t make them less useless, or anything I said less true.” Kakashi barely suppressed an eye roll. Barely.

“Be on time tomorrow, Naruto. And try not to antagonize your teammates during the wait.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll interact with them as little as possible.”

Kakashi shook his head and sighed as he jumped away, glad that the awkward conversation was over, while also carefully filing away everything he learned about his sensei’s legacy.

 _Won’t this team be just a ray of sunshine?_ Landing in front of the memorial stone a short while later, he gazed up at his sensei’s name. _Minato-sensei… How did you do it?_ Kakashi couldn’t help but see the similarities between him and Naruto. _Obito… Do you think one of his teammates will be able to help him, too?_

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just to clarify: Naruto's 'base abilities' sum up to about high chunin, which I think logical considering the power scale during the chunin exams and the fact that Kakashi was a jonin at twelve (disregarding the war). If we consider that he has been running missions since he was eight 1/2 years old, he also has the experience backing this up. What elevates him from the mass is his deadly hijutsu - which takes some time to set up.  
> Just wanted to make sure that there were no misunderstandings about how Genma and Hayate could beat him.
> 
> A big thank you goes out to everyone who took the time to review and leave Kudos!


	3. The Bell Test

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team 7 does the bell test, Kakashi and Naruto spar, and Sakura and Sasuke get an eye-opener.

**Chapter 3 – The Bell Test**

Naruto was annoyed.

The Haruno girl was constantly trying to strike up a conversation with the Uchiha boy, using topics ranging from favorite foods to date invitations to whether or not he liked her outfit. In turn, the boy ignored her completely, possibly hoping that she would go away if he did. And as if that wasn’t enough, she was constantly nagging.

Oh, the nagging. How it granted on his nerves.

She was nagging about the fact that she was tired, that Kakashi was late, that her outfit would get dirty if she sat down, that she was hungry, that her feet hurt from standing on them for so long… It never seemed to end.

Honestly, he wasn’t sure whether her attempts to flirt with Sasuke were more annoying, her constant nagging, or her tries to include him into the conversation. Like she was doing right now.

“Naruto-kun, how long do you think we will have to wait until Kakashi-sensei arrives? Do you think something happened?” She was twirling a strand of her long, cotton-candy pink hair around her index finger while batting her eyes at the Uchiha, probably trying to look ‘sexy’.

What a boatload of crap.

“Hatake Kakashi is one of Konoha’s top shinobi. He has been an ANBU for many years and is one of our smartest ninja, as well as a student of the Yondaime Hokage. If there was a reason he was recalled somewhere urgently, or a thread capable of incapacitating Kakashi had infiltrated Konoha, an alarm would have already been sounded. At the very least, a messenger would have been sent to us if Kakashi had left on a mission, or a replacement would be here. So no, Haruno, I think Kakashi is merely running a bit late.”

Naruto purposely kept any emotion from entering his tone, not sure if he could have stopped his irritation at the girl from seeping through. He _had_ promised Kakashi that he would keep it civil, after all.

“Ah, in that case…” Sakura trailed off hesitantly, not sure what she could reply to that.

Naruto greatly enjoyed the silence reigning on the training ground, before ten minutes later Sakura once again attempted to flirt with the Uchiha.

_Honestly, we are only twelve years old. What is she trying to pull here? There’s no way Uchiha would have any interest in her – they are both too young, and he is consumed by his revenge anyway._

Longingly he remembered his own team.

Kind, gentle Mayu, who became an absolute beast when on the battlefield.

The always joking and happy Ryobi, acting like an older brother towards him and being very protective of Mayu, who was very easy going until you threatened someone close to him.

Ayaka-sensei, who was hiding so much knowledge and wisdom behind her brash exterior, and who treasured teamwork and her team above everything else.

They were a good team, knew each other in and out.

They already got along before being placed in dangerous situations – both of them had been kind and civil towards him from the very beginning, and a certain chemistry was definitely there – before missions had forged their distant acquaintance into unbreakable bonds of comradery and friendship.

Whether on a battlefield or during a regular mission, he often knew how they would act before they even moved. They knew the same about him, and they had taken down quite a few jonin on missions due to their impeccable teamwork. Well, definitely more than any other genin team, at the very least.

In comparison, this – this absolute parody of everything they were – would never work out as a team. He couldn’t fathom what the Hokage had been thinking when putting a kid with ego problems together with his number one fangirl and a genin better fir for chunin rank.

He really hoped they failed the test.

“Sasuke-kun, what do you think of my hairstyle?” Naruto groaned.

_Kami, how much longer do I have to suffer through this? Kakashi, if anything is holy to you at all, you better hurry up!_

* * *

In the end, he made them wait four and a half hours. Sometime around 10.40, he decided to deign them with his appearance. Naruto wouldn’t admit it – tried his best to hide it, in fact – but he was grumpy.

Listening to Sakura could do that do you.

He couldn’t practice, couldn’t read, couldn’t do anything at all besides sitting silently on one of the three wooden stumps and listening to Sakura talk.

Boy, could that girl _talk_. And she never seemed to _stop_. Occasionally he caught a brief, sympathetic glance from the Uchiha boy – clearly understanding and sharing his pain – but that was it. That was his entire morning.

So yes, Naruto was grumpy. And Kakashi would get a taste of Naruto’s annoyance later, if Naruto got his way. For now, he contended with suppressing the twitch of his left eye that had developed sometime in the last ten minutes.

“Yo!”

The way Kakashi stood there… relaxed, completely at ease – made Naruto twitch. He had done a few missions with Kakashi in the past – five A-Ranks with another two shinobi, and one B-Rank with just the two of them – and on those occasions, Kakashi was only ten minutes late. At most. Having to wait _four and a half hours_ – well, Naruto discovered he wasn’t as patient as he thought he was. He made sure that his face was completely indifferent, though – maybe Kakashi would stop if they didn’t show a reaction.

“You’re late!” Sakura was seething. _So much for that plan._

“Ah, sorry. I got lost on the road of life, and then there was suddenly a black cat crossing my path. I had to take a left turn, and somehow ended up at the southern border… I was quite fast getting back, actually.” He eye-smiled at them, and enjoyed the fact that Sasuke actually looked annoyed instead of his typical brooding self.

“Liar!”

Ouch, that girl had quite the set of lungs on her.

“Maa, let’s get started.” He held up two bells and let them dangle in front of their faces. “The objective of the test are these bells. In order to pass, you need to get one. If you fail, you two will be sent back to the academy for remedial lessons. Naruto, you’ll be regulated to the reverse corpse if you fail the mission. You have time until noon.” He placed an alarm clock on one of the wooden poles.

“Oh, one last advice: come at me with the intention to kill.” With this, he fastened the bells to his pouch, and gulped as he saw Naruto’s impression. _Maybe I let them wait a bit too long…_

“But sensei, won’t that be dangerous?” _Seriously?_

“Sakura, I am a jonin of Konoha. Believe me, unless you aim to kill, you won’t stand a chance against me.” _Probably not even then._ He smiled at them.

“Oh, I almost forgot: those that do not get a bell, will be tied to that stump and won’t get to eat lunch.” As if on cue two stomachs growled. He threw a glance at Naruto and saw him signing _‘Did you really expect I wouldn’t eat?’_. Kakashi sighed. He didn’t expect it, but it would have been interesting to see anyway.

“Alright, if there are no further questions… Begin!”

Immediately, all three genin vacated their current location and hid in the forest.

_Hmm, let’s see. Sakura is in that bush – textbook distance, textbook location, textbook position. Not necessarily bad, but dangerously obvious to enemies on missions. Sasuke is… Ah, up in the tree in the clearing. Good – from the way he angled his position, it seems like he has a plan. Attempting to ambush me, perhaps? But it doesn’t look like he put up traps… It’s dangerous to underestimate a higher classed enemy like that. I’ll need to have a discussion with him about that before we have our first C-Rank. Naruto is… undetectable, as expected. Good – seems like none of them are a hopeless case._

_Well then, let’s give them some time to plan, make alliances, and come attack me. Ah, Rika-chan, you naughty, naughty girl…_ Giggling, Kakashi lost himself in the perfection called ‘Icha Icha’.

* * *

It was half an hour later that a very disappointed Hatake Kakashi stood on a tree branch and looked at his charges. Sakura had fallen for a very simple Genjutsu, despite her reported high aptitude for detecting and releasing them, and Sasuke… Well, Sasuke was a disaster.

Granted, it was a bit surprising that he already knew a Katon Jutsu, but he had no finesse when using it – he was only cramming as much chakra into it as he could, no control, no manipulation, no nothing. The only thing he cared for was power, and the only way he thought of achieving that was with more chakra.

 His katas were stiff, predictable, and basic – no surprising element, not tailored to himself or his fighting style. They were well-practiced, but that was about it. Without a Sharingan, the Uchiha’s fighting style wasn’t all that good. He was decent with ninja wire, but absolutely failed to combine it with his katas in a _good_ way.

The problem came with the scene he witnessed earlier. Sakura had approached the Uchiha – granted, it was due to being a fangirl, but still – and Sasuke had cruelly rejected her. From his words it was obvious that he saw himself as superior to the other two. That couldn’t happen in a team. Especially not since the Uzumaki was an unknown variable for the Uchiha – he shouldn’t have disregarded him just like that.

But the thing that made Kakashi label the Uchiha a disaster was what happened afterwards.

When it was obvious that they wouldn’t work together, and Sakura started to leave the clearing, Kakashi appeared in a shunshin and trapped Sakura in the Genjutsu. He expected Sasuke to help her – surely he understood the importance of back up? – but he simply chased after Kakashi, not even sparing her a glance. Upon inquiry, he simply stated that she was ‘too weak’ for him to bother with.

The only positive thing was that for the first time since the test started, Kakashi had felt Naruto’s chakra.

It was an intentional surge – meant to inform him of where he was – and he was quietly relieved when he noticed the location to be near Sakura, obviously watching over her while she battled the illusion. Shortly afterwards, a second surge of chakra, in a tree above his and Sasuke’s battleground went off, likely created by a clone of some sort.

It allowed Kakashi to understand Naruto’s words from yesterday better.

He wouldn’t stand by and watch as his teammates were attacked. Right now they were in friendly territory, in a friendly spar, meaning that he would watch over them and ensure that they were in no lethal danger. He wouldn’t interfere, not until they needed him, but he also wouldn’t let them die or suffer serious harm.

For a normal mission, this would translate in letting them fight their own battles to gain experience and challenge themselves, but interfering should they be too outclassed or if they made a mistake. It was the stance of a sensei, the stance Kakashi himself planned to adopt, and it told him a lot about what Naruto thought of his position in the team. Strong enough to be more of a comrade to Kakashi than to the genin, yet without the responsibilities of a sensei or team leader.

As he had said: _“I’ll listen to orders, cooperate during training, and protect them on missions, but don’t expect me to make nice with them. During my down time I don’t want any interaction with them, and I won’t teach them anything. That’s your job.”_

Kakashi sighed. It was his job alright. He just wasn’t sure if he even wanted it.

Anyway, this was how Kakashi found himself in the situation he was now. Standing on a branch between Sasuke’s unconscious head – the rest of his body buried in the ground – and Sakura’s limp body – resting on the grass from the after-effects of the Genjutsu – directly opposite of Naruto, who was battle-ready and standing in a defensive posture.

“Maa, it seems like we have reached an impasse, Naruto.”

“Not really.” The young shinobi cocked his head to the side and stretched his left arm out. “After all, we both know what is going to happen now.” He caught the scythe shortly after it materialized, but not yet assuming a battle-ready position.

Kakashi hummed nonchalantly. “Do we, now? I was under the impression you didn’t want to participate in the test, and skipping one meal shouldn’t be much of a challenge for a shinobi like yourself.”

“True.” He absentmindedly began to twirl his scythe to distract Kakashi from the chakra he was directing to his pouches. “But then again, you _did_ make me wait _four and a half hours_. What were you _thinking_ , Kakashi?”

“Eh…” Kakashi smiled sheepishly, despite knowing that the boy couldn’t see it. “Super-secret urgent jonin business?” The glare he received could have made Suna’s desert freeze over.

“Try again.”

“I wanted to see how you three would interact without me there?” Ouch, that was a nasty glare he got in return. Kakashi expertly hid his wince.

“That would require actually _being_ _in the vicinity_ of the team you are observing, _not_ staring endlessly at a freaking stone.” Kakashi arched an eyebrow.

“You sensed me?”

“Within the first ten minutes you failed to show up.”

“Uh… Sorry?”

“Not good enough, Hatake.” Kakashi sighed.

“I thought we were over this?”

“And I thought you knew how to be on time. Guess we were both wrong.”

Then, Naruto charged at him. Left, right, aiming for his head, targeting his legs… Kakashi was quickly forced into defense. But nonetheless, he dodged each swing easily, and made it seem effortless.

“Tch, take me serious already!”

Naruto aborted the upward swing he was just about to make, and instead dug his right foot into the ground. He turned his upper body a bit to the left in order to get a bit more rotation, swung the scythe currently held in his right hand over his left shoulder, and coated it in wind chakra. Then, on his next exhale, snapped his arm and body around and created a razor-sharp gust of wind, that rushed towards Kakashi’s position at neck-breaking speed.

The jonin barely had time to dodge and executed a quick shunshin to the right.

“Hm, well done, Naruto. You leave me no choice.” He lifted the headband that was previously covering his Sharingan, and saw what was previously invisible. What must be around a thousand senbon, shuriken and kunai were hovering in the air, surrounding the little clearing they were battling in.

“What…,” breathed Kakashi, obviously stunned.

“Hijutsu: Saisho no aji.”  (Hijutsu: First Taste.)

Naruto quickly analyzed the information visible to his eye with practiced speed. _Jonin. Above average chakra capacity, though constantly and easily drained by the Sharingan. Main affinity is lightning, secondary masteries for all elements begun. Above average chakra control, but too low for healing Ninjutsu. Kage-level at chakra masking. Above average chakra recovery, but below incredibly high. Comparably low stamina. Further chakra sources: Sakura and Sasuke. Outside of training ground: 5 jonin, 3 genin, 2 chunin in the immediate vicinity. Discarded due to irrelevance._

Naruto exhaled and fell into the first kata of ‘Shinigami no Emono’ (Shinigami’s Prey), his self-created Taijutsu style. He wanted to draw first blood, but found himself blocked at every turn. Evidently the Hatake had stepped up his game.

“Tch.” Kakashi threw him an eye smile.

“What, first you complain that I’m not taking you seriously, and then you complain that I am? Make up your mind, Naruto.”

_Stay calm, he is trying to gaud you. Focus on your swings; one wound and he is done for. Don’t forget the objective: taking the bells. You can’t trounce him; not yet, anyways, and he has his Sharingan active. Find a moment where he is distracted, then activate Chimamire no Sekai (Bloodied World) – the preparations are already done._

Calming himself down in that way, Naruto remained silent and continued pressuring Kakashi with his offense.

Finally, after almost ten minutes of dodging and swinging, Naruto managed to graze Kakashi’s hand. It was a just a small graze, the kind you would get when cutting your finger on paper, but it was enough.

“Hijutsu: Saisho no chi!” (“Hijutsu: First Blood!”)

While Naruto’s first Hijutsu, Saisho no aji (First taste), allowed Naruto to see his opponent’s chakra network and gather information about him and further enemies in the vicinity, Saisho no chi (First Blood) allowed Naruto to ‘lock on’ on his opponents. In other words, he could mark specific spots on his opponent, choose a specific weapon (or all of them), and they would attempt to hit the target there – endlessly. Even if the opponent ran out of Naruto’s sight, or shunshined away, the weapons would still find him. They would only stop when Naruto ran out of chakra.

Not even Naruto’s unconsciousness would stop the weapons from finding their goal, and even if Naruto would run out of chakra at some point – well, he _did_ have gigantic chakra beast sealed inside him. It was the ultimate pinpoint technique, and a sure-kill technique when combined with Chimamire no Sekai (Bloodied World).

Which was exactly what he was going for right now.

“Hijutsu: Chimamire no Sekai!” (“Hijutsu: Bloodied World!”)

Immediately a storm of weapons hailed down on Kakashi, who frantically started defending himself. Naturally, Naruto exercised precise control over each and every weapon – should Kakashi falter in his defense, he was ready to step in and ensure that nothing potentially life-threatening or crippling happened.

Naruto had to admit he was a bit impressed by the curses the jonin let loose – usually, even when using it against high-ranked or multiple enemies, they didn’t even have time to cry out their surprise before they laid death. Those that _did_ survive the first wave never had enough capacity left to curse while they fought for their lives.

While Kakashi was distracted, Naruto stealthily activated a seal on his scythe Shinrai (Trust). It was the seal his sensei added just before the fateful incident.

This seal allowed Naruto to enter a tug of war with the chakra of himself and his opponent.

However, instead of trying to yank out the entire chakra of the target, something easily noticeable, Naruto only tugged out small amounts through the wounds he inflicted on his opponent. Mayu had named it ‘chakra-bleed’ when she first saw it – it was a truly apt name.

The chakra-bleed created by this was so low, that the target usually never realized it. When they eventually did, it was after noticing that normal attacks suddenly required much more chakra than usual. At that point, it was often too late – it wasn’t rare that Naruto had already sucked out half of their chakra, and they started showing signs of chakra exhaustion.

They became sluggish, left themselves opener to attacks, and the feebler their defense got, the more wounds were inflicted on them. Eventually, they would either bleed out or die from chakra exhaustion – or Naruto would take pity on them and end it with Chimamire no Sekai. The best thing about it? Such a small cut was usually ignored in the beginning, with the enemies never knowing that it would be their downfall.

But he had no intention of taking it this far with Kakashi. All he did was slowly drain his chakra, until he saw signs of the jonin getting sluggish. Then he focused on one of the Kunai currently hovering around Kakashi, and used it to cut the strings of the bells. A shuriken grazed them slightly, infusing a bit of Naruto’s chakra in them, which Naruto then carefully maneuvered to stick to a nearby senbon.

Lastly, he directed the senbon over to himself, tucked the bells into his pouch, and ended all of his jutsu. Then he gazed over to a winded-looking Kakashi, who was breathing heavily and looking around confused, probably wondering why the attack ended.

“Why did you stop,” he wheezed out.

“Got the target.” Kakashi’s eye widened, and his hand flew to his pouch where the bells were supposed to be. _Damn, shouldn’t have let my guard down in the beginning… Amateur mistake, Kakashi!_

“How… When?!”

“Try getting your breath back first, old man. Can’t have the elderly dying due to lack of oxygen, can we?” He gazed hopefully into the jonin’s sole eye. “Can we just leave them here?” He _really_ didn’t want to carry the to genin.

Kakashi snorted. “No. Come on, young grasshopper – the elderly man is in need of rest, therefore you will need to carry his luggage,” he replied once got his breathing back under control. Naruto groaned.

* * *

When they finally arrived back in the clearing where they first met up, Naruto dumped Sakura and Sasuke none too gently on the ground by the wooden stumps.

“You can’t honestly be tired,” said Kakashi perplexed.

“I’m not. But there’s no point in being gentle with them – they aren’t hurt, only unconscious, and we failed the test anyway – ergo, we aren’t a team.”

“Maybe,” began Kakashi slowly. “You three _definitely_ failed, by I think I saw some teamwork still – Sakura went after Sasuke to help him, and you defended both of them when they were helpless:” Naruto stared at him incredulously.

“You can’t be serious!” Sasuke began stirring, but Naruto was too wound up to notice and Kakashi didn’t say anything. “Look at them! A weak, pathetic fangirl, who – instead of thinking about the battle or teamwork or the mission _at all_ – went blindly for her crush, not even thinking about the _jonin level threat_ that was after her ass! And Sasuke – don’t even get me started on that _utterly pathetic, sorry excuse of a shinobi_! No sense for teamwork _at all_ – when his teammate was attacked by a _jonin_ in front of his eyes, and trapped in a Genjutsu she couldn’t escape, he just _ignored her_. He ignored her, Kakashi! How could you think that _any_ of them are ready to be a genin?

“They don’t even get the most important thing about being a shinobi. _Teamwork_. It’s what keeps you alive to survive past your teens, what allows you to cope with the horrible situations you see and experience as a shinobi, what helps you cope with the horrors _you_ inflict, and what allows you to push yourself forward just that _one_ _step further_ , again and again, that allows you to reach your potential!

“They don’t even get that, Kakashi. How can you honestly think that they are ready to be a team?” At the end, his furious tirade tapered off into a broken whisper. “How can you think that a weak fangirl, and a pathetic wanna-be avenger with a superiority complex are _anywhere_ near fit to be a team?”

Sasuke lay there with his eyes wide open. _How dare he? How dare that… that asshole lectures me on anything? Lectures me on teamwork, when I lost my entire clan to my brother? Those that require teamwork are weak._ He was the top of his class, and the teachers never stopped telling him how far advanced he was. That _weakling_ didn’t understand _anything_ – he didn’t even appear _once_ during the test, so how dare he lectures other on teamwork?

Kakashi seemed to share his opinion, as he now looked sternly at the blond weakling.

“How about we spar for a bit, Naruto? Those two will be out a little while longer, and you need to blow off some steam.” He couldn’t see Naruto’s expression, as the blond had his back to him, but could hear his seriousness in his tone.

“Are you sure, Kakashi? You can’t be recovered already – I drained quite a bit of chakra from you.” The jonin waved his hand.

“Ah, don’t worry ‘bout it. I’ll just take a soldier pill.” Naruto nodded.

“Then… Taijutsu only, no Hijutsu?”

“Nah, go all out, Naruto. I’ll be using Ninjutsu too – it will be interesting to see who fares better.” Naruto just nodded again.

He walked a few paces away from the ‘unconscious’ genin – Sasuke absentmindedly noticed that Sakura was beginning to wake up, and quickly clasped his hand over her mouth to stop her moan of pain from breaking loose. He watched in quiet fascination as Naruto stretched his left arm out, and ink began crawling out from under his sleeve, running down his fingers, and dripping towards the ground, where it suddenly formed into a scythe which was expertly caught by the genin.

_Which shinobi in their right mind uses a_ scythe _?_

“Hijutsu: Saisho no aji; Saisho no chi!” (Hijutsu: First taste; First blood!”)

Kakashi raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Don’t you usually need to _inflict a wound_ on an opponent for Saisho no chi (First blood)?”

“Yeah, but I already drew blood from you earlier.” Kakashi’s head shot up.

“The scythe _remembers_?” Naruto grinned cockily.

“Yeah, Shinrai (Trust) is pretty awesome. You ready?”

“Always.”

Sasuke watched the battle in fascination. He didn’t notice when Sakura first snuggled into his hand, then removed it when she stared in shocked awe at the battle unfolding before her.

“Wow…” Sasuke fully agreed with her breathless word of awe. “Are those… Sensei and Naruto-kun?” Sasuke just nodded.

The two battlers were moving too fast for the genin to follow fully, but they saw sparks of light when their weapons locked together and the sun was reflected by the surface. Sometimes, though, the two slowed down just enough that they could catch glimpses of their battle. They saw Naruto’s flawless swipes with the scythe, and Kakashi’s smooth counters. Sometimes, Kakashi would spit out a jutsu of some sort, and countless weapons would fly at him from impossible angles, forcing him to abort, and then return to hovering in the air around the two.

“Is that… Does Naruto-kun have a Kekkei Genkai (Bloodline Limit)?”

“I don’t think so. When Naruto started the attacks he always called out “Hijutsu”, so I think it’s that.”

“Wow…” They relapsed into silence, until Sasuke broke it a few minutes later.

“Sakura, do you think… Do you think that I am strong?” He didn’t dare look at her, and instead kept his eyes focused on the spar.

“I don’t…” she trailed off. “I don’t know, Sasuke-kun. I think you are plenty strong, for our age group. I used to think that you were one of the strongest genin in the village, perhaps stronger than many chunin, but looking at Naruto-kun…” Sakura didn’t continue, but Sasuke understood. He felt the same.

Compared to Naruto, his strength was insignificant. Naruto was sparring with their sensei – he hesitated to call it ‘on par’, because sometimes Kakashi had to pull a jutsu back in to avoid harming Naruto, but then again sometimes _Naruto_ had to reel in one of his weapons – at a way higher level than Sasuke did. Hell, that battle was of a higher level than he had ever seen, period.

_Am I… Like this – am I strong enough to kill Itachi? Will I_ ever _be able to kill Itachi? I can’t even keep up with Naruto! And he’s a genin! Itachi was an ANBU when he was twelve… How will I ever compare?_ Naruto’s words rang through his brain.

_“They don’t even get the most important thing about being a shinobi. Teamwork. It’s what keeps you alive to survive past your teens, what allows you to cope with the horrible situations you see and experience as a shinobi, what helps you cope with the horrors you inflict, and what allows you to push yourself forward just that one step further, again and again, that allows you to reach your potential!”_

_What if I –_

“Alright, that’s enough.” Sasuke’s head shot up, only to realize that the words weren’t directed at him, but at Naruto. “You are dismissed, Naruto. I’ll make my decision on whether or not I pass this team later – I’ll send Pakkun over with a message. Sasuke, Sakura, stay.”

Naruto – for once thoroughly out of breath – just nodded at Kakashi, before leaving the training ground without a glimpse at his ‘teammates’.

“You two – follow me.”

Grudgingly Sasuke stood up to follow the jonin, Sakura just half a step behind him.

* * *

Kakashi stopped in front of the Memorial Stone.

“Do you know what this is?” For once, the lazy drawl had left his voice. Instead, only a somber tone remained. Sakura shook her head. “This is the Memorial Stone. The names of Konoha’s greatest heroes are engraved on here.”

Sasuke looked at the stone with interest. Maybe he would find a name he knew, the name of a strong shinobi willing to teach him ways to kill Itachi? He was disappointed when he found that he didn’t know a single one of the names inscribed here. Next to him Sakura mustered the stone with similar interest.

“I don’t know a single one of the names on here, though,” she eventually piped up. Kakashi nodded.

“That’s because the people immortalized on here are all pilled KIA – shinobi of Konoha killed in action during one of the wars or on a mission.” The heads of the two genin shot up in horrified realization.

“Yes. This is the memorial for every shinobi that sacrificed their lives for the sake of Konoha, Konoha’s greatest heroes.” His sole eye rested on the stone and sought out the names he honored every day. “The names of my two best friend and my sensei are immortalized here. Uchiha Obito, Inuzuka Rin, And Namikaze Minato.” Sasuke and Sakura looked at him with a mixture of awe and sympathy.

“I lost Obito and Rin during the war, and Minato-sensei followed them a few years later.” He expertly kept his tears at bay. “But do you know whose names you won’t find on here? Hayashida Ayaka, Serizawa Ryobi, and Inaba Mayu.” The genin threw him puzzled looks.

“They were Naruto’s first genin team, and one of the strongest genin teams Konoha ever produced. On their way to Kumo’s chunin exams, however, they were accosted by a group of high-ranking nuke-nin (missing-nin). They managed to kill them all, and Naruto got them back home safely, but the price they paid was way too high. Ayaka is currently in a coma, pronounced brain-dead. Ryobi-san is paralyzed from the waist down, and his right leg had to be amputated below his knee. Mayu-san suffered heavy brain damage, and has reverted to her six-year-old self.”

Sakura let loose a strangled cry, hands clasped in front of her mouth, while Sasuke had gone wide-eyed. “Naruto is an orphan. His genin team had become his family, and he lost it all on the way to his chunin exam.”

“Why – Why are you telling us all of this?” Sakura was openly crying now.

“Because you two do not understand what being a shinobi means. It is a highly risky life you lead, and not one for harmless fantasies,” he looked at Sakura, “or a solitary life.” Here he looked at Sasuke. “Sasuke, I know you heard what Naruto said earlier about you two.

_“They don’t even get the most important thing about being a shinobi. Teamwork. It’s what keeps you alive to survive past your teens, what allows you to cope with the horrible situations you see and experience as a shinobi, what helps you cope with the horrors you inflict, and what allows you to push yourself forward just that one step further, again and again, that allows you to reach your potential,”_ Kakashi recited.

“A shinobi incapable of working together with others is a dead shinobi. It doesn’t matter what rank you are – there is _always_ someone stronger than you. The nuke-nin (missing-nin) that attacked Naruto’s team were all jonin. And yet, a genin team managed to beat them. Do you know how they did it?”

“Teamwork?” Asked Sakura hesitantly.

“Exactly, teamwork. Teamwork allows you to beat enemies stronger than yourself. Teamwork allows you to live another day. Teamwork allows you to cope with this lifestyle, and allows you to have a successful career.” Kakashi locked his gaze with the two genin, and didn’t let them go.

_“Those who break the rules are trash. But those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash.”_

“That is the credo I live by. It is the credo this village lives by, and it is what allowed Konoha to come out victorious in all the wars until now.” He mustered them intently. “What I need to know now, Sakura, Sasuke, is whether or not you can abide by that credo. Whether or not you are willing to become a comrade, a shinobi of Konoha.

Or, whether you prefer to remain children, to remain civilians. The choice is yours, but don’t you ever, _ever_ break that vow. It is the single most important thing you have to learn in order to be a shinobi.”

Sasuke was just about to answer, but surprisingly, it was Sakura who stepped up.

“I will. I swear, in front of all the heroes of Konoha that allowed this village to survive to this day, that I will never abandon my comrades.” Kakashi’s and Sasuke’s eyes flew open in surprise at the strength in the young kunoichi’s voice. “Likewise, I swear that I will do my best to become a strong kunoichi Konoha can depend on.” The fire seemed to drain out of her, and her voice became a bit timid when she continued. “I… cannot promise that I will become great, though. I mean…”

Kakashi interrupted her. “Maa… Making you strong is my job, Sakura. Don’t worry, you have plenty potential.” He ruffled her hair before turning back to the boy. “Sasuke?” Sasuke nodded and stepped forward, gazing at the memorial stone.

“I promise to become the best shinobi I can be, and to protect my comrades. I will never, _never_ , allow something like what Itachi did to happen _ever_ again. I promise that I will do my best to honor the fallen heroes of Konoha, and the ideals my family stood for – honor and protection.” Kakashi smiled at the strength in Sasuke’s eyes. “I do not know if I will succeed, but if teamwork is strength, then I promise to become the strongest shinobi I can be – and too kill Itachi with that strength.”

Kakashi suppressed the sigh that threatened to break through at the boy’s mentioning of Itachi during the last bit, but he realized that the two of them had come a long way. _The rest will take more time, I suppose… Oh well. This was already a huge step, for_ both _of them._

“Congratulations. You… PASS the genin test. I, Hatake Kakashi, accept genin Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, and Uzumaki Naruto as genin under my command.” The happiness shone brightly in the pre-teens eyes, and Kakashi smiled at them. “Meet me tomorrow at 7 on training ground seven. We will do some training in the morning, and start missions in the afternoon. Dismissed!” He disappeared in a shunshin.

_Seems like the Will of Fire shines in both of them… I thought Sasuke’s was already extinguished by the massacre, but maybe…_

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All right, that was today's chapters ^^ I  
>  hope Sasuke and Sakura's behavior didn't seem too OOC for anyone, but no worries - the path to a stable team 7 and good team dynamics are still a thing for the future.
> 
> Let me know what you think!  
> A big thank-you to everyone who sent Kudos and commented.   
> See you next week!


	4. D-Ranks

** Chapter 4 – D-Ranks **

Naruto glowered at the small note in his hand for the nth time since he received it yesterday evening.

_‘Team 7 passes. Tomorrow at 7 on training ground 7 – training in the morning, mission in the afternoon. Don’t be late.’_

_Tch. How did they pass the freaking test? Those two wouldn’t know what teamwork was if it hit them on the head! ‘Don’t be late’… Don’t you mean yourself, Kakashi? Damn it. Also, what’s up with all those sevens?_

Naruto sighed as he put on his outfit. Mesh armor covered his entire body; a mesh shirt covering his torso and arms, and mesh pants covering his hip and legs. Above that, he wore ANBU-issued pants and black shinobi sandals. A nondescript, black long-sleeved shirt with a dark-orange spiral on the back came atop the mesh. Lastly, a beige trench coat completed the look.

It was the only drop of color in the entire outfit, and reached to Naruto’s knees. He would have preferred it to have a darker color, so that it would blend in better with his surroundings or that blood stains couldn’t be seen that easily, but it wasn’t available in any other.

 The trench coat was a real piece of art: inscribed with seals by all five seal masters of Konoha, it had been terribly expensive when Naruto commissioned it. The payout was worth it though: it should be pretty much indestructible by jutsu or weapons of any kind, be resistant to natural wear and the elements, was able to channel chakra (which was really important for Naruto’s Hijutsu), and would adjust the temperature of its wearer constantly to the optimal value. In other words: the wearer would never be hot or cold. It was a perfect feature for shinobi.

Due to how expensive it was (its price equaled the pay of three S-Rank missions, or in Naruto’s case, seven A-Ranks and thirty-four C-Ranks) Naruto had commissioned it to be a bit too long so that he could grow into it. He rolled the arms up twice, carefully fastening it with chakra, to ensure that it wouldn’t hinder him during training.

Just before leaving his apartment, Naruto picked up his weapon pouches. He fastened three pouches to his lower back, securing them with chakra, added his kunai holster to his right thigh and his senbon holster to his left. All of his pouches had special storage seals, similar to the one holding Shinrai, embroidered into them.

Unlike the seal on his left bicep, which held only Shinrai, these seals were created to hold the multitude of weapons he needed for his Hijutsu. They had a special lock mechanism, where one drop of Naruto’s chakra allowed him to transfer the imagined weapon and amount into the corresponding pouch, seemingly giving him an ‘endless amount’ of weapons.

He quickly took the sealing scroll containing his camping equipment – better safe than sorry – and added it into his middle pouch, before completing his morning routine by channeling a huge amount of chakra into a chest full of weapons next to the door. It allowed his weapons to memorize the feel of his chakra and remember it during a fight, subsequently allowing for easier use and keeping the enemy from taking control of his weapons. They would reject any chakra not his own.

Then he left and locked his door, arriving at the training ground with eight minutes to spare.

* * *

“Good morning, Naruto-kun,” greeted Sakura with a big smile on her face. She felt refreshed and determined from yesterday – she would put everything she had into her shinobi training – but couldn’t help but feel pity for this poor boy who –

“Good morning, Haruno-san.” The tone he used was perfectly civil, but Sakura couldn’t help but notice that it still seemed hostile.

_Ah, right. Naruto-kun has been qualified for the chunin exams for two years – to be saddled with academy kids like us…_

“So, what do you think will our mission be?” For the first time since knowing him (which, admittedly, wasn’t very long), she saw hate on those impassive features of his.

“ _D-Ranks._ ” He managed to spit that word out with so much venom and distaste, that it actually made her flinch, even though she knew (was reasonably sure) it wasn’t directed at her.

“Ah, right…”

The conversation stilled after that.

* * *

“Sasuke-kun! Good morning!”

 _She seems oddly relieved to see me,_ noted Sasuke absentmindedly. Honestly, he was going to just brush her off with a typical ‘Hn’, when he remembered his promise from yesterday. Also, she wasn’t fangirling over him today, and you should reward positive behavior, right?

“Good morning, Sakura,” she beamed at him, “Naruto.” He only received a curt nod in response, but he didn’t let it bother him – Uchiha were the masters of stoic replies.

“I’m really excited for our mission later!”

“Hn.”

And just like this, team seven settled into silence.

* * *

When Kakashi still hadn’t arrived twenty minutes later, Naruto turned to his ‘teammates’. _Alright,_ he thought, _civil. I can do that. Imagine Ryobi…_

“Kakashi is late. We should start warming up – no point in wasting time.” He was proud that he managed to hide any disdain for his ‘teammates’ from tainting his tone. Without waiting to see if they followed his advice, Naruto started his own warm-up, beginning with running a few rounds around the training ground, and ending by flowing through his katas.

Afterwards, he created three shadow clones and sat down in the grass.

Due to his ever-growing chakra resources, he had to invest huge amounts of time into maintaining his chakra control. Now that he had shadow clones, he could leave that particular aspect of his daily life to them, perhaps even furthering his prowess in that area, while he himself could focus on a new brainchild of his: the clones.

He had learned all the clone types Konoha had: The Mizu Bunshin (Water Clone), the Tsuchi Bunshin (Dirt Clone), the Kaze Bunshin (Wind Clone), the Kaminari Bunshin (Thunder Clone), and the Kage Bunshin (Shadow Clone).

While the Kage Bunshin was the best clone in the regard that it allowed memory transfer, thus making it useful for espionage as well as training, it had one crippling flaw: it was weak. One hit and the clone was gone.

The Mizu Bunshin (Water Clone) would remain undefeated until you gave it a killing blow, while the Tsuchi Bunshin (Dirt Clone) could take multiple shots and keep going. While the Kaze Bunshin (Wind Clone) and Kaminari Bunshin (Thunder Clone) were no better in terms of stability, they blew up when defeated – the Kaze Bunshin (Wind Clone) giving the attacker cuts all over his body, while the Kaminari Bunshin (Thunder Clone) gave out electric shocks, that could paralyze or kill the attacker.

What Naruto wanted to do, was to combine the Tsuchi and Kage Bunshin – essentially, giving the Kage Bunshin more endurance. For that, he would have to research both jutsu intensely – he had to figure out which part of the jutsu did what, which way he had to mold his chakra for more endurance, and which way for the memory transfer. He intended to start by figuring out their similarities.

Without performing hand seals, Naruto slowly began morphing his chakra into the form required for the jutsu. Slowly, a hundred times slower than he would do in battle, he watched as the pieces of the jutsu fell together.

His chakra reached into the ground, slowly taking bits and pieces of dirt and compacting it, forming an exact replica of Naruto’s body. Chakra transferred from the original to the clone, forming chakra pathways and a chakra core in the body. It wouldn’t be able to use it for anything but strengthening the dirt shell, giving it the unyielding strength associated with stone, as well as maintaining the current shape. Should the chakra run out, the clone would dissipate.

Next, the chakra reached out. It scanned the original’s body, taking in his appearance, before layering a henge over the clone. It anchored the henge with the chakra core, making it unbreakable. Lastly, a chakra connection was established between original and clone, allowing the original to control it.

With that, the jutsu was complete, and Naruto murmured its name.

“Doton: Tsuchi Bunshin.” (“Earth Element: Dirt Clone.”)

The clone opened his eyes and waited for its next command. _Dissipate._ It did. Naruto absentmindedly cataloged the fact that the chakra in the clone’s chakra core didn’t return to him.

“Researching jutsu, Naruto?” The voice came from behind him.

“I’m trying to figure out similarities and difference between the Tsuchi Bunshin (Dirt Clone) and Kage Bunshin (Shadow Clone). The end goal is transferring the sturdiness of the Tsuchi Bunshin onto the Kage Bunshin.”

Kakashi hummed. “Ambitious project. Many have tried, and all have failed.”

“Yes, but none of them have the chakra control I do, nor my chakra reserves.” Kakashi nodded and turned towards his other two students.

“Sasuke, Sakura. Come over here.” The two slid out of their respective kata before jogging over. “Alright. We’ll start with basic conditioning – improving your base strength. Naruto, I assume you have your own training?” He received a nod. “Good. Afterwards, we’ll do some formation drills, before I work with Sasuke and Sakura on their katas. We’ll have a half an hour break at 2 pm, and go to the Hokage tower to receive our first mission afterwards. Any questions? Then let’s start.”

* * *

 

“Team Seven, reporting in for a D-Rank,” announced Kakashi when they stood before the Hokage in the mission office. The wizened old man smiled and nodded, his eyes lingering on Naruto only slightly longer than normal.

“Very well. We have cleaning the kennels of the Inuzuka clan, walking the dogs of Matsumoto-san, helping out in the kindergarten, babysitting Tatsuya-san’s children, and painting the Hanuko’s fence. Which one will it be?” Kakashi frowned.

“No Tora?”

“No Tora,” confirmed the Sandaime. “Kurenai took it earlier.” Kakashi furrowed his brows in thought, before coming to a decision.

“We’ll take painting the fence, then.”

“Very well.”

* * *

 

“These… These aren’t missions. These are chores,” gritted Sasuke out between clenched teeth. Sakura, kneeling in the dirt next to him, agreed whole-heartedly.

“No wonder Naruto-kun was so grumpy earlier.” She scowled at the paint covering her hands. The topic of Naruto effectively caught Sasuke’s attention though – after all, he never seemed to do something without reason.

“Oh? What did he do?”

“Nothing much. I thought he was angry at me, ‘cause he seemed really spiteful when he said ‘D-Ranks’, but, well…” Sasuke grunted. They were all a little _spiteful_ right now.

They lapsed into silence and worked side-by-side to finish their side of the fence.

“Sasuke, do you have some paint left? I’m all out,” asked Sakura after more than twenty minutes of silence.

“No, I’m almost out, too. I think sensei still has some.”

“Okay, I’ll go get some. Should I bring you some too?”

“Hn.”

Kakashi smiled beneath his mask. While it wasn’t perfect, at least Sasuke and Sakura seemed closer after yesterday’s declarations, and both had made tremendous effort. Sasuke had stopped just ignoring Sakura and brushing her aside and had even started actually conversing with her instead of just answering to everything with ‘Hn’. Sakura had stopped her fangirling – oh, he could still see her love for him in her eyes, but she was now more like Rin and didn’t allow it to affect her work – and had taken training really serious this morning.

It was a far cry from how they’d been in the academy reports and what he had seen from them during the genin test. If they continued like this, he could probably take them on their first C-Rank after two more weeks of training, perhaps even just one. After all, Naruto was for all intents and purposes a chunin, and could take out an entire camp of bandits within seconds – there wouldn’t be much to worry about on a simple delivery or bodyguard mission. He didn’t want to take them on an extermination mission yet, as he wasn’t sure if Sakura and Sasuke could handle that emotionally right now.

“Kakashi-sensei?”

“What is it, Sakura?” Kakashi made a show of looking up from his book.

“Do you have some more paint? Sasuke and I are both out.”

“Sure, you can take the leftovers from Naruto’s.”

“From Naruto?” Sakura was surprised. _‘Leftovers’ would mean…_

“Yup, he’s already finished with his half. We’re waiting for you and Sasuke to finish, and then we can call it a day.”

“Ah, right…”

* * *

 

“What is it, Sakura? You look shocked.”

“Naruto… already finished his half.”

“What?” To say he was surprised would be an understatement. When Naruto had first suggested that they split the workload in half, him taking one side and they the other, he had been skeptical. If he finished before them now…

“Sakura, let’s hurry up.”

No way was he going to be outdone by him just like that.

* * *

 

“Quit looking so grumpy, Naruto. It’s D-Ranks, not communal work,” Kakashi chuckled.

“Might as well be,” grumbled Naruto. “It certainly feels like it. Referring to these as ‘Missions’ is just preposterous.”

Kakashi just laughed. “Really? I find it quite entertaining.”

“Yeah, because you don’t have to _do_ them. All you have to do is make sure we don’t kill each other and you’re good.”

“Always so mean, Naruto-kun…”

“It’s been _two weeks._ Two weeks of what is essentially doing _chores_ while being in close quarters with the brats. Excuse me for not being happy,” snapped Naruto. Quieter he added, “At least I can kill something on a mission.” Kakashi sighed.

“Are you still referring to them like that? They’ve really improved, you know?”

“For a while, maybe. But they’re getting worse with each passing day.”

Kakashi winced – it was true. With each day of D-Ranks, Sasuke became grumpier and reverted more to monosyllables, while Sakura began to lose her determination. He had already asked the Sandaime for a C-Rank in private a week ago but was refused due to the team not having had enough time to get to know each other.

“Three more days,” he promised quietly. “Three more days of D-Ranks, followed by four days of specialized training, and I’ll get us a C-Rank.” For the first time since their conversation began, Naruto turned to look at the jonin instead of watching Sasuke and Sakura wrestle with the dogs.

“Promise?”

“Promise.” Naruto nodded, picked up the leashes of the three dogs sitting patiently next to him, before turning back to Kakashi once more.

“I’m counting on it, Kakashi. Don’t let me down. I’m going stir crazy here.” With that, he picked up the pace and rejoined Sakura and Sasuke.

* * *

 

Kakashi had kept his promise.

“Well then, I think you are ready.” He let his gaze drift over his three students, two of which seemed confused and one relieved.

“Ready for what, sensei?”

“For our first C-Rank, of course. The specialized training of the last four days was to make sure that you three knew the team formations and standard behavior in certain situations – can’t let you three be killed, now can I?”

The resounding “Yes!” that Sakura shouted out rang through the silent training ground and Sasuke’s pleased smirk was easily visible. Even Naruto’s satisfaction was visible in the glint of his eyes, and Kakashi had a feeling that he finally did something right. Maybe this C-Rank would allow them to grow as a team.

“Shall we go, then?”

He smiled when all three genin immediately followed him to the Hokage tower.

* * *

 

Kakashi frowned while they walked through the Hokage tower. The administrative ninja seemed oddly flustered. One of the shinobi in admin seemed to be desperately searching for a messenger bird, while someone else shouted names of shinobi seemingly at random. Maps of all five major hidden villages were looked over hastily, and bingo books lay open on almost every table. _Wonder what’s going on._ From the corner of his eyes he saw Naruto mustering the odd scene much like he was.

He was glad when they finally stood before the door of the mission office.

Some news simply weren’t meant for young ears _or_ genin ears, no matter how much experience they might have.

“Team Seven reporting in for a C-Rank.” Kakashi’s eyes narrowed briefly when he saw relief flashing in the Hokage’s usually impassive eyes.

“Kakashi, thank god you’re here. You are hereby issued an A-Rank mission, depart as soon as possible.” Kakashi’s eyebrows flew up, and he threw a wary glance at the genin. _‘Now?’_

“Genin team Three has been caught in a mislabeled mission due to the lies of the client in Nami no Kuni (Land of Waves). Kiera Yuki and his genin team set out in a C-Rank, and were engaged in battle by Momochi Zabuza, A-Rank missing-nin of Kirigakure. Yuki-kun managed to somehow keep them all alive and get them to safety, but they are without provisions, the client has lost an arm, and one of his students is in a coma. They don’t have any medical supplies, and none of them is a medic. Furthermore, we do not know their exact location.”

Kakashi straightened immediately. Mislabeled missions weren’t a rarity, despite their rather low occurrence in the general mission ratio. Kakashi had dealt with his fair share of them and knew by now how to handle them. It was no wonder he was chosen for this mission: He was an Ex-ANBU captain, with a combat/tracking dual specialization. He also held the same rank as Zabuza; there weren’t many in Konoha who could say the same.

“Unfortunately, we do not have a lot of high ranking personnel to spare. You’ll get a team of chunin: A Genjutsu specialist, a medic, and a Hyuga. Any questions?” Getting a Hyuga instead of an Aburame made sense, they had to find Team Three quickly. Every second he delayed was the second the client could bleed out, or the second that allowed Momochi to kill off the team. And no one was better at finding chakra sources than a Hyuga.

“My students?” He absentmindedly noticed Sasuke and Sakura’s stunned expressions, probably because they had never seen him in ‘mission mode’ before. Naruto had, and was actually more used to this side of him than the laid-back sensei he had witnessed in the last two weeks, so it was not surprising that he didn’t show any outward reaction.

“I’ll place them with Asuma for now. His own team, Team Ten, should be roughly on their level, and Kurenai’s is currently on a mission. When Team 10’s C-Rank comes up, I’ll place them with Gai’s, they’ll return from border patrol in four days.” Kakashi nodded. Asuma would probably get them started on Chakra control, which was what Sakura and Sasuke should start working on, and Naruto would find a good Taijutsu trainer in Gai. It was one of his weak points right now.

“Completion of original mission?”

“If possible.”

“The team?”

“Already at the gate.”

“Belongings of the targets?” Hiruzen handed him a bag with clothes. Kakashi threw a quick glance at it and nodded, before turning to his Genin. This would be sufficient for his dogs to track them.

“Seems like we’ll have to do our C-Rank later. Be nice to each other and behave, all right?” He ruffled Sakura and Sasuke’s hair, and shrugged in a ‘what can you do’ fashion when he caught Naruto’s glare. “By your leave, Hokage-sama.”

“Come back safely, Kakashi.” Kakashi turned to leave, intend on running home quickly – he had to get supplies for the mission, even though he didn’t really have time to spare, might even have to go shopping first – when Naruto’s voice made him look up.

“Kakashi.” Something brown came flying at him. “Catch.”

Identifying the object as one of Naruto’s pouches, he raised a questioning eyebrow before looking inside, taking in the contents.

“Weapon scrolls, my camping equipment, spare clothes, the standard seals, standard medic kit, food, and money. I expect to be refunded afterwards.” Kakashi just nodded gratefully and disappeared through the window, heading towards the gate at top speed. Every second counted and could make a difference between retrieving the team alive or bringing back corpses.

Once he arrived, he simply kept going, his teammates falling in formation behind them. Luckily, it seemed as if the guards were already informed, as no one made a move to request their destination or purpose.

Kakashi sighed. Of course something had to happen when he requested team Seven’s first mission outside Konoha… It was the C-Rank curse.

* * *

 

To say Naruto was annoyed was an understatement.

Not only was he saddled with the brats, his first chance of returning to at least a _semblance_ of his normal life – C-Ranks – was nipped before it had even a chance to happen. All because _a certain man_ was incapable of seeing through the lies of a _civilian_.

He glared at the Hokage.

It was his fault that he even was in this situation in the first place. Couldn’t he have just let him continue doing solo C-Ranks and doing B- and A-Ranks with other shinobi? It’s not like he was hindering them! But _no_ , he was placed with _two genin fresh from the academy_. Naruto knew for a fact that there were at least four genin teams – _experienced_ genin teams – that were missing a teammate for whatever reason.

“Well then, Team Seven,” the voice of the Hokage cut through his thoughts. “For the next four to five days, you will be practicing with Team Ten. I’ll send a chunin with you to inform Asuma of what’s happening. I expect you to further your training efficiently even though your own sensei is currently away. Any questions?”

Oh, Naruto had quite a few, but you do not question the Hokage on his decision making and you do not show disrespectful or hateful behavior towards him. Naruto bit his tongue and looked out of the window, barely stopping himself from crossing his arms petulantly.

The five presences that made up the Hokage’s guard hovered at the edge of his mind, and he could feel the sympathy and understanding coming from them. They knew what had happened, could understand how he felt, and were aware that he couldn’t do anything about it. Despite all that, he knew that they took the side of the Hokage in this argument – had felt as much when it occurred in the first place. The ANBU were probably merely sympathizing with the fact that he had to do D-Ranks again – _every_ Shinobi hated them.

“I have one, Hokage-sama,” came Sakura’s respectful voice. The Hokage nodded at her to continue. “Who exactly is on Team Ten?”

Naruto barely stopped himself from scoffing. _Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Choji, jonin-sensei Sarutobi Asuma._ He wasn’t even in their class and he had remembered it. He heard the Hokage give a similar answer, before he focused once more on the team members and the information he had dug up about them when he first researched them as possible teammembers.

 _Nara Shikamaru.  Up and coming genius of the Nara clan, rumored to surpass his father in mental abilities one day, but the typical Nara in everything else – easily bored, lazy, no motivation, puts no effort in his training (neither conditioning nor jutsu), a slacker, enjoys shogi and sleeping, doesn’t eat enough – and scarily smart._ He would understand what he said – or didn’t said – and it might be interesting to interact with him for a short while.

 _Akimichi Choji. Best friend of Nara Shikamaru, incredibly kind-hearted. Typical Akimichi in body stature, and often ridiculed and told he wouldn’t become a shinobi for it. If anything, his kind heart might stand in his way. Easily agitated when teased about his weight, very protective of everyone he cares for. Often seen eating potato chips._ Naruto suspected that he was smart in his own right – otherwise he wouldn’t be able to keep up with Shikamaru – and apt at seeing people for who they really were.

Huh – maybe this week wouldn’t be so bad.

His gaze fell on Sakura who seemed to be trying to suppress a rant about ‘Ino-pig’ while in the presence of the Hokage upon hearing who was in the team, and stopped himself from grimacing.

Of course, Yamanaka Ino was also a part of team ten.

_Aggressive, loud, judgmental, and a gossiper – standard Konoha kunoichi material. Relatively low chakra, but way more than Sakura, neglects training in favor of ‘looking good’ and being Sasuke’s fangirl, ‘rival’ of Sakura. Good at reading people’s non-verbal language, like any Yamanaka, but much less focused on being a Kunoichi than expected of Inoichi’s daughter._

Well, every coin had a flip-side.

He broke off his train of thought and turned to the Hokage. Making sure that neither his voice nor face held any emotion, he started speaking.

“Should we depart right away, Hokage-sama?” He wondered at the grief he could see in the old man’s eyes – _he was the one who placed him on that team, damn it_ – before focusing on the Hokage’s answer.

“Yes, Ko will accompany you.”

A Hyuga stepped into the mission room, bowed to the Hokage, before telling them to follow him. Naruto suppressed a sigh.

_Why me?_

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this would be a good place to mention this: I don't intend to follow canon. Sure, a few major events cannot be changed without plausible reason (Aka chunin exams) but I have zero interest in having a 'rabbit goddess' and 'reincarnated sons' showing up in this fic (if we ever get to that point). However, that also means that Zetsu won't have any freaky powers that cannot be explained as a Hijutsu. 
> 
> TL;DR: expect this story to go off canon after the chunin exams and the Akatsuki to play major villain.


	5. Team Ten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team Seven meets Team Ten. Information is exchanged, training neglected, and Naruto checks on the rest of team 14 like he does every Thursday.

Chapter 5 – Team Ten

Asuma looked at the six genin standing before him.

Five minutes ago, he had been informed by a Hyuga that he now had three more children to train – he got saddled with Kakashi’s students. Luckily, one was Uzumaki Naruto. He wouldn’t need any training from him, especially not in chakra control. In fact, maybe he could get him to help the others – after all, no one understood chakra like Naruto did. Taking a heavy drag from his cigarette, he exhaled the smoke and started introducing himself.

“For everyone who doesn’t know, I’m Sarutobi Asuma, Team Ten’s sensei. You can call me Asuma. Apparently, I’ll be teaching you for the next few days. I was planning to start my team on chakra control exercises today, so you can just join in.” He glanced at Kakashi’s brats. “I know that you are Uzumaki Naruto,” he gestured at the blond boy, “but who are the others?”

“I’m Haruno Sakura, Asuma-sensei.”

“Uchiha Sasuke.” Asuma nodded.

“These are Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Choji, and Yamanaka Ino.  Now, I know that Naruto already knows this exercise, but has anyone else started with tree walking?”

“How does climbing trees help with chakra control?” Sakura looked at Asuma confused. It was at this point that Naruto rolled his eyes and interceded.

“Asuma-san, this exercise has no meaning for me. There is no point in me joining in. I’ll do my own training over there.” Without giving the jonin a chance to object, Naruto executed a quick shunshin and landed fifty meters away from them, on the other side of the filed. Asuma sighed. _So much for getting his help._

“I’m talking about tree climbing without using your hands. Surely you have all seen Shinobi walking up walls or standing on water?” Sakura nodded. “That is this very exercise. It’s an exercise for chakra control.”

He observed the reactions of the genin. Shikamaru looked uninterested, probably already knowing the exercise. Sakura’s eyes seemed to sparkle, Sasuke looked unimpressed, and Choji had his typical kind expression on his face. Ino seemed angry, though. _Huh. Did something I said annoy her?_

“Well then, let’s start.” He walked up to a tree and put his right foot on the bark. “As I said, this is a chakra control exercise. If you want to stick to the bark, you need to precisely measure your chakra – too little and you slip off, too much and you blow off.” He demonstrated it. “You need to channel your chakra into your foot, specifically the sole of your foot, and keep the chakra flow steady. If you want to take a step,” he brought his other foot onto the bark, before lifting his first foot and taking a step, “you need to cut off the chakra flow in one foot while maintaining it in the other one.” He jumped off the tree and turned to look at them.

“Girls are generally better at this exercise, because they tend to have less chakra than the boys. The more chakra you have, the harder it is to control it, so don’t be disheartened if it takes you a while to learn. Chakra control is important, so make sure you take this seriously. Any questions?”

“Why is chakra control so important, sensei?” Asuma looked at Sakura, who wore a look of confusion on her face, and sighed. The standards in the academy had really fallen low – back when he was in the academy, this was one of the first things that was taught. Then again, it had been wartime.

“If you have good chakra control, you can control your jutsu and your chakra output better. For example, compare me and Kurenai – she is the sensei of team eight. Kurenai is a Genjutsu mistress, and as such, has excellent chakra control, but only two thirds the amount of chakra I have. Normally, this would mean that I can easily outlast her in a battle, but due to her excellent chakra control she can last almost as long as I do if we were to use the same techniques.”

“Ah, because she can measure her chakra better!”

“Correct. Any further questions?” Everyone shook their heads. “Good, then let’s start. There are two approaches that are generally used when teaching chakra control. The most common one is running up the tree at your top speed, and marking how far you can get with a kunai. The momentum will give you time to adjust your chakra flow without falling down immediately if you slip, and is generally used by those with high chakra reserves, as they tend to get blown off the bark. The altitude allows them to right their fall so that they don’t break their neck and can land on their two feet.

“The other option is doing it the way I demonstrated; start by putting the first foot on the bark while the other remains on the ground to get a feeling for the amount you need first. This is typically used by those with low chakra reserves, as they usually tend to get the hang of it pretty quickly once they know which amount to use. Feel free to switch the approach you use as you go, you need to find out which way will suit you better.”

He laid five kunai on the ground before turning into Naruto’s direction. “Come find me when you’re done!”

* * *

“You seem unhappy.”

“What clued you in?” Asuma sighed as he sat down next to Naruto. He watched silently as the weapons danced in the air.

“Why are you here? You have five students you can bother who actually _need_ your guidance.”

“You weren’t this angry the last time I spoke with you.” He made sure to keep his voice even and relaxed. Naruto snorted.

“We had _one_ mission together, Asuma.” He just quirked an eyebrow in response. “Fine. Your father decided to assign me to a genin team.”

“You are a genin,” replied Asuma mildly.

“Yeah, but a team coming fresh from the academy? Seriously?” The weapons seemed to split into six groups, and started clashing with each other. After ten seconds, Asuma had already lost track of which weapon belonged to which. Finally, he answered after waiting a couple more seconds.

“You know how politics are,” was what he finally settles on.

“Please, Asuma. This has _nothing_ to do with politics. This is Hokage-sama’s response to me requesting to join ANBU.” He snapped his eyes over to Naruto.

“Since when did you stop calling him ‘Jiji’?”

“Since he started treating me like a shinobi that he expects to obey every order.” Asuma sucked in a sharp breath. No shinobi as good as Naruto – _who had a certain kill technique that could murder anyone while they slept_ – and as much potential should ever hold that much resentment for their Kage. Especially not a Jinchuriki. The risk of desertion was simply too high.

“Naruto,” he started carefully, not knowing how much Naruto knew about his _situation_ , “a lot of politics revolves around talented shinobi like you –“

“The word you are looking for is Jinchuriki, Asuma-san,” interrupted Naruto. Asuma abandoned all facades of being calm.

“ _How_?” He asked alarmed. In complete juxtaposition to their behavior before, Naruto seemed almost serene.

“The villagers talk, Asuma. Especially when I was a child. Couple that with a few history lessons by the academy teachers, the distrust of the shinobi when I first became a genin, a few trips to the library, my heightened chakra capacity and – _oh yeah_ – the seal on my stomach that appears when I mold chakra, and it isn’t hard to connect the dots. Even the biggest dunce would realize it.” He was silent for a couple of beats.

“Of course, then there are the whisker marks on my face, though they could be scars or clan marks, and my knowledge of Fuinjutsu, and well,” he shrugged. Asuma closed his eyes.

“How long?”

“I really don’t think that concerns you.” The serene tone from before was now edged with a warning, and despite the fact that Asuma wanted to know more, he backed off. _No need to make him angrier with the Hokage or Konoha than he already is._

Instead of replying, Asuma lightened a cigarette, and laid down on the grass.

“Care for a round of shogi?”

Naruto sighed, but created a clone to play with him while he continued his training.

* * *

 

“What is so special about him? Asuma-sensei _never_ lets one of us skip out of training,” complained Ino. Sasuke and Sakura shared a look.

“Naruto is… different,” hedged Sakura.

“What do you mean?” Ino had abandoned all pretenses of doing her exercise, and instead walked over to Sakura.               

“He’s been a genin for three years, and he’s crazy strong. And I mean ‘crazy strong’. Naruto has created his own Hijutsu, and was able to fight Kakashi-sensei with it! He seems to hate us, but at the same time works together with us without a problem during a D-Rank if it’s required.”

“He feels more like an equal to Kakashi than to us,” added Sasuke. “I don’t think he has voluntarily said more than three sentences to us during a conversation.” Sakura nodded.

“I’m pretty sure he doesn’t want to be on a team with us, or on a team with _anybody_. Kakashi-sensei said that his previous team was almost killed on their way to the genin exams by nuke nin. Apparently they –“ She was interrupted by Shikamaru and Choji approaching.

“Are you talking about Uzumaki Naruto?”

“Hn.”

“Do you know him, Shikamaru?” Ino turned to the newcomers with clear interest gleaming in her eyes.

“More like I know _of_ him. A few years ago I heard my old man talk to uncle Choza and uncle Inoichi about him. His team was attacked somewhere just outside Kumo, I think, and his teammates suffered heavy injuries.”

“We already know about that!” Ino was getting impatient. Shikamaru turned away slightly and tried to get his ear to stop ringing.

“Tsk! Oi, woman, tone it down. You’re too loud. I was getting to that.” He turned back to fully face the group. “Anyway, apparently it was close enough to Kumo’s village that they sent out a team to find out what was happening – murdered daimyo are bad for business. I didn’t really hear the next part – the old man talked lower than before – but something happened and Kumo put him into their bingo book. Dad talked about how he was the first genin to get recorded into a bingo book during peace time.”

“What is his rank?” Sasuke fixed an intense glare on the Nara.

“Who knows.” Shikamaru shrugged and sat down against a nearby tree. “I wasn’t exactly keen on telling my father that I listened in on his conversation or attempt to steal his bingo book.”

“Dad talked with mom about him once, too. I didn’t know it was about Naruto, as they only mentioned that a genin was entered into a bingo book, before they shut up when they heard me on the steps. Dinner was tense that day – I think my parents had a disagreement.” Choji looked into the direction Asuma left and turned to Shikamaru. “Shouldn’t we continue doing the exercise? Asuma-sensei might get angry if we don’t.”

“What a bother,” scoffed Shikamaru, but he nonetheless rose and followed Choji back to ‘their’ trees.

“First genin in the bingo book during peace time, huh?” Sasuke turned back to the exercise as well. _Shouldn’t be that hard to steal someone’s bingo book. Some genin working in the administration, maybe… The ones in the compound would be too outdated. Hmm…_

“Sasuke-kun?”

_That wasn’t nearly as much Intel as I hoped to get… Maybe daddy will let something slip if I ask just right?_ Ino casted a calculating look into the direction of her house.

“Oi.” Naruto looked up and fixed Sasuke with a stare that was disinterested at best.

“What do you want?”

“Is it true that have an entry in a bingo book?” _Best to get it out of the way quickly_ , Sasuke thought.

“None of your business.” Sasuke’s eye twitched. _Isn’t he the one who’s all about teamwork?_

“We’re teammates.”

“And?”

“You don’t keep secrets from your teammates.” Naruto scoffed.

“In order to pull the teamwork card you need be a team first, Uchiha.” Sasuke frowned.

“We _are_ a team.” Naruto actually rolled his eyes.

“Being forced to spend time together for a certain amount each day isn’t being a _team_.”

“Maybe, maybe not. But teams don’t just form from nothing, you need to at least put in effort. Far as I can see, you haven’t yet, Naruto.”

“And you have?”

“I’m trying to.” Sasuke returned Naruto’s challenging glare without giving in. Naruto’s eyes narrowed.

“Fine, I’ll answer two questions. Not more. In return you won’t pester me during the rest of the week.”

“Deal.” Sasuke’s thoughts raced. What were the most important questions? Which would give him some answers? How did he need to phrase them so that Naruto couldn’t weasel out of it? He already knew the ‘ _when’_ – during the botched mission. He also knew the ‘ _why’_ – because he took down a group of jonin. He knew the ‘ _who’_ – Kumo – but he didn’t know _what_ rank he held and _how_ he achieved it. What where the requirements for getting an entry?

“What rank do you hold?”

“High B-Rank.”

“How did you become the ‘first genin with an entry in the bingo book during peace time’?” Naruto’s voice turned from carefully disinterest to open hostility.

“Did you _investigate_ me?”

“No. Shikamaru just knew some interesting things about you.”

_Shikamaru? He’s undoubtly a genius, but that doesn’t explain how he got his hands on that particular bit of information. No one below chunin knows about my entry, and only those who served in the war know about the ‘in peace time’ tidbit. Apart from that, nobody talks about it because it is considered impolite. That means… Shikaku? Did he tell Shikamaru or did Shikamaru overhear him talking? I can’t imagine the first, but for a genin or academy student to overhear the jonin commander… Not a real possibility._ Sasuke’s voice startled him from his thoughts.

“Well?”

“How much do you know about the bingo book, Sasuke?” Sasuke was startled by the surprisingly… nice tone Naruto used.

“It is used to gather information and put bounties on strong enemy shinobi.”

“Wrong. The Bingo book informs the issued village’s shinobi about _threats_.”

“Where is the difference?”

“’Strong’ would mean that shinobi capable of outmatching several others, aka jonin, are registered. Recording ‘threats’ means that not necessarily the shinobi with the highest firepower, but those who hold the biggest threat in general get recognized. How much of a threat somebody is, is decided by a plethora of categories: Kills, overall strength, techniques in the arsenal, proficiency with weapons, experience, associates, position/standing, intelligence, kekkei genkai, heritage, information, and _future potential_.

“During the war, where every village had managed to sneak in at least one or two spies, the last one was especially important. By killing heirs, geniuses, and the holders of kekkei genkai off as fast as possible, the enemy managed to cripple the opposing village’s future strength by thinning out both the youth – and therefore ability to reproduce and gather information – and stopping the youths from ever reaching their potential, effectively stopping further ‘Sannin’ level shinobi from reaching adulthood and passing their skills on to students of their own.

“During peacetime that gets avoided as much as possible. After all, if you kill of an heir or a genin unprovoked, you might very well start the next war – which none of the villages are ready for.” Sasuke started to see where this was going.

“And yours was such a ‘potential entry’?”

 “More or less, yes. You have seen my Hijutsu, right?” Sasuke nodded. “It took years of work to get it up to this level. During the incident I was able to handle maybe fifty, sixty weapons in the air. More if I split them up between Tsuchi Bunshin (dirt clones). That’s still an amount most jonin can defend against, but in combination with my team it was deadly. Some shinobi from Kumo had probably witnessed our fight, and had reported it to the authorities. I was given a mid B-Rank back then – most likely because someone saw the potential of my technique, and wanted to nip it in the bud.” Sasuke absorbed the mass of information Naruto just unloaded on him, before he frowned.

“How come your rank hasn’t improved that much?” Naruto threw him an annoyed glare.

“My technique is powerful, without a doubt, and a perfect assassination tool, but my physical strength isn’t quite there yet. I haven’t done solo assassination missions yet, as the Hokage refused to hand me one of those, and completing C-Ranks by myself isn’t exactly the biggest threat to a hidden village. You can imagine the ranks like this: C-Rank is where you would rank genin that find their way into the Bingo Book. D-Rank for civilians who hold too much political power to be left alone. B-Rank for those with the abilities of a chunin, A-Rank for jonin. High A-Ranks are reserved for the elite jonin of a village, like Kakashi, and S-Rank for the true monsters, like the Yondaime or Kage in general.”

“Hn. That means that the Bingo book has you ranked as a high chunin, then?”

“Essentially, yes. I think we’re done here, I already answered more questions than I said I would.” Naruto turned to leave, and even walked a few steps, but turned around one last time. “Don’t forget, Uchiha. Being in the Bingo Book isn’t an honor, it means that somebody put a hit out on you, making you a constant target for enemy shinobi. My high B-Rank is already a problem – I have zero interest of that ever turning into an A-Rank.”

Sasuke stared at the retreating silhouette.

* * *

“Mari-san.”

“Ah, Naruto-san! Is it Thursday already?” Naruto just smiled at her. “I guess it is. 2 pm, punctual as always. She’s currently out playing, so you can probably see her best from one of the benches.”

“Thank you Mari-san.” He nodded at the kind receptionist as he walked past her.

“No problem sweetie,” she called after him.

Naruto’s feet carried him easily towards the location. He had walked this same path at least a hundred times – it would be worrying if he couldn’t find it. Automatically he started to case the surroundings. _9 caretakers. 25 children. Seven visitors. The tenth caretaker is… Ah, he’s getting toys from storage. They probably have something planned for today._

“Good afternoon Uzumaki-san,” greeted a kind voice next to him. He looked up, nodded at the remaining visitors, and turned towards the woman that had approached him.

“Hello Hayashima-san. How are they today?”

“They are doing great. Mayu-chan and Nana-chan are still as inseparable as always…You just missed the scene where one of the new kids tried to play with ‘just Mayu-chan!’.” Naruto snickered. He could imagine how that turned out – especially with Mayu’s shinobi strength.

“I hope she didn’t hurt anyone.”

“No worries, one of the caretakers interfered in time. It was still hilarious to watch.”

Naruto hummed.

“Ah, are you her brother? I’m terribly sorry about the behavior of Yoshi-kun…” Naruto started a bit. It had been some time since somebody had asked him that particular question. He turned towards the – obviously new – woman who was apparently the mother of the child who tried to separate Mayu and Nana.

“No worries. I’m not her brother, I’m just a former teammate of hers.”

“Don’t sell yourself short, Naru-chan! You may not be biologically related to her, but you are the little brother she always wished to have in all the ways that count, and if you weren’t emancipated due to being a shinobi we would have adopted you. By the way, that offer still stands.”

Naruto automatically felt a big smile spreading his lips. That was the voice of one of the two women who practically became his mother when he was nine. It had taken some time before she had warmed up to him, but the wait was well worth it.

“Yumiko! It’s been a while since we’ve met.” She fixed him with a stern stare.

“And whose fault is that?” Naruto rubbed the back of his head embarrassed, a habit stemming from his childhood that he had never quite been able to shed.

“I was… busy.” Yumiko raised an eyebrow, but let it rest.

“How is she doing?” Naruto gazed at Mayu who was currently on the monkey bars. Yumiko smiled bitterly.

“Nothing has changed. The doctors managed to finally heal all lasting damages a month ago, but she hasn’t returned to her former self.  Apparently she suffered such a strong emotional shock that she hid away in her safe memories, and seems to have no intention of ever returning to her true age.”

_‘Naruto! Down!’ He just managed to duck out of the way of a Katon jutsu (Fire jutsu), but was in no way able to dodge the weapons flying towards him. Just in time Mayu’s Urumi whirled around her, skillfully deflecting the barrage. That, however, left her open to the suiton jutsu of another jonin. Naruto had gotten his bearings back together, directing his weapons to kill the opponent, but it was too late: the suiton jutsu hit Mayu straight in the face, causing her to fall from the branch she was crouched on and right into the spikes of a Doton jutsu, impaling her in several spots and causing strong force trauma to her head. The suiton jutsu user crumpled, dead, but Mayu –_ Naruto closed his eyes and shook himself out of his thoughts.

“Maybe it is better that way.” His words were whispered, but Yumiko still heard them loud and clear. She stayed silent, however, knowing that there were some things Naruto just won’t talk about.

“Have you seen Ryobi lately,” she asked instead, successfully changing the topic.

“I’m going to see him right after this, actually. Is there anything you want me to pass along?”

“Nothing in particular, no.”

They spent the rest of the hour in companionable silence.

* * *

“Come on out, Naru-chan. I can sense you,” a joyful male voice called out. Naruto scowled.

“Can you stop calling me that already?”

“Aww, but you’re such an itty bitty guy,” came the remorseless response.

“I’m twelve!” Naruto sounded seriously offended now.

“Yes, yes. You’re all grown up.” Ryobi’s hand landed on his head and ruffled his hair. Naruto crossed his arms and was decidedly _not_ pouting.  Ryobi just laughed. “How’s your team?” He raised an eyebrow when he saw the murderous expression Naruto suddenly wore, and changed the topic. “Come on, I need to sort these books into their shelves. Care to lend me a hand?”

“Sure, Ryobi.” Ryobi inwardly cheered when the smile returned to Naruto’s lips.

“Excellent. Shelves D36 and A09 are our current destinations.” Naruto grabbed the handles of Ryobi’s wheelchair and steered him towards them.

“What have you been up to lately, Ryobi?”

“Ah, the usual. Sorting books, forging weapons, nothing special.”

It had taken Ryobi almost half a year to fully recover from the injuries and mental trauma he suffered during the ambush, but once he was fit to leave his home again he immediately got his life under control. He took up two jobs, one in the library, where he worked most of the time, and one as an apprentice to a smith. He intended to carry on his sensei’s legacy: supplying uncommon weapons of the best quality to shinobi of the leaf and the Daimyo’s guard.

“That reminds me: I found sensei’s plans for your scythe. You mentioned last time that you’d participate in the chunin exams as soon as possible with your team, right?” When Naruto nodded, he continued. “I’m not good enough yet to improve it – not by a long shot –, but I will start forging a back-up scythe. Should Shinrai break, you will then have another weapon to fall back on.”

“Thank you, Ryo-nii!” Ryobi grinned as his old nickname left Naruto’s mouth. It had been a while since he had heard it.

“So, how’s it been going with your Hijutsu? Any ideas on how to improve it?” While Naruto’s Hijutsu was strong, it was by no means finished. Three original techniques, while impressive for a twelve-year old, weren’t enough to base an entire fighting style on – especially when two of them were supplementary. The ambush had proven that. 

“I don’t know.” Naruto sighed. “I’ve been working on improving the amount of weapons in the air – I’m close to three thousand, now. But I feel like I’m missing something. Something that would change my Hijutsu from ‘deadly’ to inescapable…” He busied himself sorting the books into the correct shelves. “It is especially problematic with my current team. I could depend on you and Mayu to back me up and buy me time, but the _children_ that are now my ‘teammates’ will likely kill themselves when they get their first taste of killing intent.” He scowled at the book he picked up just a second ago, _‘Baking for beginners: soups’_ , and put it into the shelf with a bit more force than strictly necessary. _Damn_ , that team was annoying.

Ryobi side-eyed him and chuckled. “Come on, they can’t be that bad.”

“Haruno is a fangirl and a goddamn _civilian_ with only book smarts to talk about, and the Uchiha thinks he’s one of the best genin _ever_ despite being so weak that it isn’t even funny anymore. He fancies himself an ‘avenger’. They act like being a ninja is some harmless way to get money and reputation quickly.”

“Haruno? Do you know if she’s the daughter of Haruno Mebuki?” Naruto frowned at him.

“Yeah, the owners of that civilian shop down the block.”

“Hmm… The Haruno couple aren’t civilians, though.”

“ _What?!_ ” Naruto looked so startled that Ryobi had to bite the inside of his cheeks to keep himself from laughing. Instead he simply shrugged.

“Haruno Mebuki’s name was listed in sensei’s customer list as a genin. Seems like she came in fairly regularly for a while – Kakute, a katana from the Land of Iron, a few kunai that were heavier than the standard… She was at least a genin, but never got listed as a chunin. Maybe she retired?”

For Naruto this revelation meant much more than the fact that Sakura wasn’t, in fact, a civilian. The problem was that Naruto had _researched_ Sakura, like almost everyone else in the class, and the fact that _one of her parents was a shinobi_ had eluded him was critical. If he wanted to be ANBU, such mistakes couldn’t happen again.

“Maybe…” They lapsed into companionable silence afterwards.

“So, how’s it going with your Taijutsu?” Naruto rolled his eyes.

“Around chunin level. Genma says that I’m too dependent on my scythe.” Ryobi frowned.

“Still? Naruto, you know that overspecialization can kill you. I thought you were working on that?”

“I am! It’s just… It isn’t easy, all right?” Ryobi nodded and ruffled his hair.

“As long as you are working on it. I don’t ever want to see you return in a casket, understand?”

“Don’t worry. I’ll stay alive and carry on the legacy of team fourteen.”

“Excellent. Wanna spar later?”

“Sure.”

* * *

After Ryobi’s shift ended they walked towards a nearby training ground. The terrain was a bit tricky to maneuver with Ryobi’s wheelchair – Sand and wheels don’t mix – but a bit of chakra manipulation from Naruto fixed that problem. They ended up standing roughly ten meters apart, with Naruto shifting into an offensive stand and Ryobi in a defensive one.

“How many do you want?”

“Hmm… give me fifteen, for now. Not sure how good I can keep up.” Naruto nodded, and summoned five kunai, shuriken and senbon, before launching them towards Ryobi.

Ryobi closed his eyes and exhaled, feeling the air around him. He slipped his hands into his sleeves, grasping the Tessen (Iron Fans) that he still kept hidden there, and waited. The moment he felt the first weapon cross his security perimeter, an invisible bubble situated five meters away from him, he snapped into action. He slid out the Tessen, opened them, and channeled his wind chakra into them. With a gentle flick of his wrist he cut the first kunai neatly in half, then the senbon, another kunai, three shuriken…

Naruto smiled bitterly as he watched Ryobi effortlessly deflecting his weapons. Had Ryobi still had control over his lower half, and if his leg didn’t have to be amputated, he had no doubt that Ryobi would be dancing right now, slipping through the attacks with a deadly grace that Mayu had always envied.

It had been Naruto’s favorite thing to see – a deadly, mesmerizing dance of death, more beautiful and graceful than the Hyuga’s gentle fist. If you added in Mayu, with her Urumi, working in perfect tandem with Ryobi, and him with his Hijutsu watching their backs, it became a perfect death trap for anyone caught in it – unpredictable, swift, and inescapable. The strongest genin team ever formed.

But alas, that was a sight he would never see again.

He kept a steady supply of fifteen weapons in the air until Ryobi finally ran out of stamina. There were only so many ways to exercise without the use of your lower half, and constantly forming wind blades was exhausting and taxing on the chakra.

Naruto had been keeping a close eye on Ryobi’s chakra reserves for that reason, and was able to react accordingly when Ryobi raised a hand to signify the end of the spar. It had been a mere fifteen minutes, but satisfied smiles were easily visible on both their faces.

“Well then, Naru-chan, as nice as it was to spend time with you, I need to go to the blacksmith now. Oh, and I recently found a book that might be interesting to you.” He handed him a pre-made paper. “You might find it an interesting addition to your fighting style.” With a wave Ryobi started to wheel away.

Naruto looked at the paper. _‘Genjutsu and Ninjutsu: a deadly and disregarded combination’, huh? Might as well check it out. Ryobi doesn’t recommend useless things…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You might have noticed that I missed last weeks update. There's a reason for that: my wifi is very finicky at the moment, and I had to use my flat rate to upload this. I'm terribly sorry about the delay. I hope my wifi works again next week, and I'll try either do a double chapter to make up for it or simply make the chapters longer... we'll see.


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